Age of Wonders
by SuperJimmy978
Summary: The world thought Captain America dead after the Liberty Brigade launched their final assault on HYDRA in 1945. They were proven wrong when he was unearthed from the ice 70 years later. Now he joins up with the Vanguard of Justice, an elite team of superheroes led by Superman. They must now take on threats of all kinds, while Captain America tries to adjust to modern life.
1. Golden Age I

**So, just so you all know, this isn't just 'DC and Marvel coexisting together'. Well…okay, it's mostly that, but there will also be some minor changes and reimaginings to a few of these characters. Some characters here, for example, have had some alterations. Major alterations in one case. With all of that said, enjoy.**

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 _April 26, 1945_

 _The Bohemian Forest_

Steve Rogers could feel the weight of the world on his shoulders as their plane flew closer and closer to the HYDRA base.

Until Spring 1942, he had been nothing more than a scrawny little kid from Brooklyn who faced multiple rejections from the Army for being too frail and weak to enlist. But then Abraham Erskine and his Super Soldier Serum came along, and Steve was transformed into the super soldier Captain America. Donned in a red, white, and blue outfit with a A on his forehead and a star on his chest, Cap was created as a champion of the American People, and given a circular star-spangled shield made of an alloy called 'Vibranium'. After this, President Franklin D. Roosevelt placed him on a team known as the 'Liberty Brigade' – a group of superhuman people whose objective was to combat and take down HYDRA, a highly advanced science branch of the Nazis.

And they had taken out every HYDRA base in all of Europe, except for their central headquarters, which they had only recently determined to be located in the Bohemian Forest. Cap was still trying to let it sink that their mission was almost completed. After this, the Liberty Brigade would be allowed to go home.

"How you holding up, Rogers?" A voice called, and Cap turned to face Alan Scott, the Green Lantern, who was seated right next to him.

Alan was a blonde railroad engineer only a few years older than Cap and donned in a green outfit with a lantern-like emblem that shined white light. He wore a green ring on his left hand, and with it, he could create anything using his mind and his willpower. Cap remembered how he was in awe of Alan when they first met, and they had become good friends over the course of the war.

Cap smiled. "I'm doing fine, GL. Just trying to prepare myself. This is it…"

Alan let out a small laugh. "I know, right? I can't wait to kick some HYDRA ass just one more time."

"I truly worry for you, Alan. How are you going to live when the war's over?" Another voice pointed out. It was Jay Garrick, the Flash, who was sitting on the opposite side of the plane. He was a young brown-haired college graduate about Cap's age, and he was clothed in a red shirt with blue pants, red boots, and a big yellow lightning bolt on that shirt. He also wore a silver World War One helmet with wingtips on his head, and he had told Cap that it was his father's before he perished in the Great War. Jay was also a speedster, making mentions of a 'Speed Force' that Cap was still amazed by. He was close with Cap and Alan, and he had a little smirk on his face, one that Alan just laughed off.

"Oh, don't you worry about me, Jay. There's some criminals back home that have been begging for an ass whopping."

Now Cap was the one laughing. "Yeah, I really can't see you settling down, Alan. I just wonder what I'll do after all of this over."

Jay stretched his arms out, looking completely content. "Well, I'll still fight the good fight, but I plan to settle down with Joan." He took a look at a dirty blonde-haired nurse on the plane, who blushed and smiled at Jay.

"You're a lucky man." Cap replied, genuinely happy for Jay Garrick.

But then Namor, the man sitting next to Jay, just let out an 'hmm'. He was clothed in all-black, though he left most of his chest exposed, wasn't just some random American blessed with extraordinary gifts like Cap, Alan, and Jay were. He was the King of Atlantis. Nobody could believe it when he showed up, and they were further shocked when it turned out all of his claims were true. He and his cousin Namora, a blonde woman also clothed in black who sat a few feet away, had come to President Roosevelt's office, and they volunteered to aid the Liberty Brigade, saying it was in their best interests.

"What's the matter, _your highness_?" Alan retorted back. He and Namor had an…interesting relationship.

"Well, railroad boy, now I've been left wondering what my own future will be like. Of course, as you should know, I have to fulfill my duties as a King. Won't have time for this crime-fighting business you have an unhealthy devotion towards, Alan."

"Unhealthy? Namor, I swear to God –"

"Hey, hey! Keep it together, guys!" Jay interjected, motioning his hands for the two to break it up. Jay was the only one who could calm Alan and Namor down whenever things got a little tense, while Cap couldn't do anything more than watch.

Alan and Namor both looked at Jay, and then at each other. They did indeed keep it quiet, and there was silence for a few moments. Then came Robert Frank, the Whizzer. He was a speedster like Jay, and he wore a golden outfit with a blue belt and boots. And he smirked at Jay.

"This is the tiebreaker, Garrick. After this base is done and taken care of, we'll see who's the better speedster, once and for all."

"Oh, I'll be leaving dust in the air for you, Bobby!" Jay replied, and he and Whizzer just smirked at each other.

Seated next to Whizzer was boxer Ted Grant, aka Wildcat, and android Jim Hammond, the Human Torch. Wildcat simply had one a black outfit with a cat ears and whiskers, and bandages on his hands, while Torch was a blonde man who wore a simple red outfit with yellow here and there – an fireproof outfit, for Torch had the ability to manifest and manipulate fire. They just looked at Whizzer and Jay and silently laughed, and then began whispering among themselves.

And seated next to Garrick was Dinah Drake, the Black Canary. She was a blonde woman from Gotham, donned in black and blue with fishnets. She had the 'Canary Cry' a sonic attack that she weaponized to stun her foes. "Just remember the stakes, boys." She said to Jay and Whizzer, the latter just smiling.

Cap looked around the plane. Seated to the right of him was Kent Nelson, the sorcerer known as Doctor Fate. He wore a blue and golden outfit with exposed hands, with a yellow cape, but the most noteworthy accessory he donned was the Helmet of Fate, which granted Fate magical powers. Sitting to the right of _him_ was Madeline Joyce, aka Miss America. She wore a simple red outfit with a blue cape and a shield on her chest. She had was capable of flight and superhuman strength.

And lastly, sitting next to Namor was Ted Knight, the Starman. He wore a red outfit with a green cape and boots, a yellow star on his chest, and a red fin on the top of his head. He wielded a 'gravity rod' and a 'cosmic rod' that allowed him to fly and create bursts of stellar energy – though Cap had no idea how that worked, exactly.

And together, they were the Liberty Brigade. Cap remembered hearing stories about all the others beginning in 1939. And then when President Roosevelt – God rest his soul, Cap thought – put him on a team alongside these icons, Cap didn't know what to think. He felt overwhelmed at the prospect of fighting alongside the likes of these men and women. But luckily for him, his fellow Brigadiers were quick to accept and even admire Captain America.

He then thought of his childhood friend, Bucky Barnes, and his love, Peggy Carter. Bucky was a sergeant in the army and Peggy Carter was a high-ranking British agent, and they had been fighting HYDRA alongside the Liberty Brigade. They were in another war plane, however, and Cap wondered how they were feeling right now. He thought of the emotions that be running through their heads. And he thought about what the future would hold between the three of them.

He didn't think anything would happen between him and Bucky – they had managed to stay close friends for years now, and he couldn't think of anything that could tear them apart. But Peggy was another story. He had a bit of a crush on Peggy Carter. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever met. He thought of her wonderful brown hair and amazing face, which were nothing less than perfect to him. They met shortly before he took Erskine's serum, and she was the first girl Cap ever talked to for more than a minute. She treated him well even before he took the Serum, something he greatly appreciated.

He hoped to have a future with Peggy after all of this was done.

"Alright, we're closing in on the HYDRA base! Ready yourselves!" the pilot, Charles 'Doiby' Dickles yelled to everyone, and they indeed began to prepare themselves for the coming battle.

"Y'all ready to kick some more Nazi ass?!" Wildcat boisterously shouted while cracking his knuckles excitedly.

"As ready as I'll ever be." Torch replied, emitting fire from his right hand.

And Alan's ring began to emit a green glow. "As ready as you'll ever be, Hammond?! Come on! This is gonna be fun!"

"I just want to finish these damned fools once and for all!" Namor yelled angrily.

Jay took a deep breath and looked at Cap. "This is it, Steve…"

Cap placed his hand on his shield and looked back at Jay. "I know…"

"A bit overwhelming, isn't it?"

Cap shook his head a little. "Yeah, it is. But someone has to fight the good fight, lest the world go to hell."

"I can definitely get behind that." Jay replied, before adjusting his helmet.

After a few more moments, Dickles shouted "Alright, ladies! We're here!"

Namor opened the door and personally flew out himself – he had the ability to fly thanks to the wings on his feet. Namora, Alan, Torch, Doctor Fate, Miss America, and Starman all followed Namor and flew out of the plane.

Wildcat was the first non-flyer to jump out of the plane, a parachute on his back. Canary, Whizzer, Jay, Cap, and Joan all followed suit, and opened up their parachutes after a few moments. He saw Bucky and Peggy parachuting out of their own plane, along with the stubbled Sergeant Franklin Rock, whom Cap barely knew.

Cap was ready to finish their score with HYDRA once and for all.

It wasn't long after he landed onto the ground that he began to hear gunfire. American, British, Canadian, and Australian soldiers alike began charging towards the HYDRA base, which was barely visible at the moment, but Cap could see that it was a gigantic and silver fortress.

As soon as they landed on the ground, Jay and Whizzer immediately began super-speeding around while Wildcat pulled out an M1911 from his outfit and shot at a HYDRA soldier who was trying to blend in with the forest environment around them. Several HYDRA soldiers began to shoot at Cap, who deflected the bullets with his indestructible shield and began to shoot back at the soldiers with his M1917 revolver. Black Canary let out her Canary cry and four HYDRA soldiers were sent flying back into the surrounding trees.

Cap tossed his shield and knocked two HYDRA soldiers out with it. He couldn't help but hear Sergeant Rock let out a war cry as he shoot at the soldiers with his Johnson machine gun. Bucky had the same weapon, and he was shooting the enemy soldiers right alongside Sergeant Rock. Peggy Carter, meanwhile, was shooting at soldiers with her Martini-Enfield rifle. Cap threw his shield at another HYDRA soldier, sending him falling to the ground, before shooting and killing two other soldiers. He turned around to see a soldier just about to pull their trigger on the super solider, but Peggy shot the soldier before he could. They looked at each other and smirked for a moment before getting back into the combat, Cap bashing a soldier with his shield.

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

"The Liberty Brigade is here!" Eduard Clariss, the Reverse-Flash, shouted towards Arnim Zola. Zola was a short and balding man, while Clariss was a tall and buff man in a darkened version of Jay Garrick's outfit.

Zola gritted his teeth and had a nervous look on his face. "Well, go and fight them off, you dolt! I'll find Schmidt and Krieger!"

Clariss glared at Zola for a moment, but then nodded and super-sped away. They had been in the cell room of the fortress, where they practiced on their human experiments. Zola took a moment and looked at the kid in the glass cell that stood directly opposite him. He felt disgusted to be in the presence of a Jew, but this kid had potential. He was just sitting there with a cold look, while a coin levitated in the air – the kid was controlling the coin.

Zola just had to hope to God that the kid wouldn't escape as he was forced to run off and find Johann Schmidt and Albrecht Krieger. Their main, and most pivotal, base was under attack, and the two were nowhere around.

Zola ran through the cold-looking hallways, and HYDRA soldiers were running around him, all armed up. He had been looking everywhere for Schmidt and Krieger, but could not find a single trace of the two.

But then they found him.

"Zola!" Schmidt shouted, and Zola turned around to face Schmidt and Krieger. Krieger was a blonde and muscular man donned entirely in black armor, while Schmidt had a black military uniform – and a completely red head, with no nose. It was hard for Zola to look at Schmidt.

"S-sir, what are we going to do?! The Liberty Brigade has attacked sooner than we thought we would! They could compromise our entire plan!"

Krieger narrowed his eyes towards Zola and decked him in the face. "Silence, Zola! You're overreacting! Everything will be fine!"

Zola rubbed his cheek, and did not say a word – he was, quite frankly, terrified of Krieger.

"Krieger is right, Zola. You think the Liberty Brigade has arrived early?" Schmidt looked at Zola for a moment before he grinned. "Trust us, they are too _late_."

Krieger held a metallic brown orb in his hand, one that was emitting purple energy around it. He handed it to Schmidt before he flew off – he was capable of flight with the help of a special gas, and he also had superhuman strength and speed.

Schmidt looked at the orb, and he let out a sinister grin.


	2. Golden Age II

**Addressing the fact that the Liberty Brigade kills in this chapter…recall that they are not fighting crime on the streets. They're in a war. That is all. Enjoy!**

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HYDRA soldiers continuously fired at Alan, but he dodged all the bullets with a circular shield he constructed around himself. He smirked before the shield dissipated – and he created a gigantic hammer, with which he crushed all the soldiers. Namor saw this, and simply gave Alan a deadpan look.

"You can create anything you want, yet you always create hammers and swords."

Alan shook his head at the king. "I would love to see you do better, Namor."

"Not now, you two." Miss America interjected as she and Doctor Fate flew towards the king and the emerald warrior. "We got too much at stake!"

Alan and Namor looked at each other for a moment before they joined the other two and charged towards the massive HYDRA tanks that were heading there way. Miss America and Namor punched and kicked at several of the tanks until they were broken and demolished, while Alan smashed at the tanks with more hammers, and then he created a gigantic hand with which he grabbed a massive tank and threw it against a tree.

"Fate shall not forgive any of you!" Doctor Fate yelled out as he shot out blue mystical fire towards the tanks and soldiers.

Cap was able to watch this from afar as he and Peggy continued to shoot at the HYDRA soldiers. One soldier tried to ram him in the back of the head with his gun, but Cap could hear the soldier and knocked him out by ramming him with his shield. Then he saw a bullet pass by dangerously close to Peggy's face, and he retaliated by shooting the HYDRA soldier in the legs, before shooting him in the stomach. Some HYDRA soldiers then tried to circle Cap and Peggy, but Allied soldiers began shooting at the HYDRA soldiers, with Bucky, Rock, and Wildcat among them.

Admist the commotion, Cap and Peggy were able to concentrate again and opened fire at the enemy soldiers. Cap saw Wildcat grin as he broke the neck of one HYDRA soldier before shooting another in the face, and then bash yet another one's head against a tree.

Wildcat's grin morphed into a glare when more HYDRA soldiers tried to circle the five, but just as they began to prepare themselves, Jay and Whizzer came along and snapped all their necks before super-speeding away.

Bucky simply took a look at Cap as they continued to open fire at their opponents. "Ever imagine you be fighting along speedsters? As a Super Solider?"

Cap let out a small smile as he bashed two HYDRA soldiers with his SHIELD. "Why would I have ever thought of that, Bucky."

"I'd recommend just shooting, gents." Peggy said, also having a small smile on her face. Cap and Peggy went back-to-back for a moment as they resumed shooting at the HYDRA soldiers.

Wildcat continued to shoot and bash as he pleased. "So much for a thousand year Reich, huh?" He said boisterously as he once more bashed an enemy soldier's head into a tree.

But then he heard a sound that seemed like it came from an animal, and he had a nervous look on his face – as did Cap, knowing where that roar had to be coming from. Then, from the forest, a gigantic white gorilla emerged and slammed its fist towards Wildcat, sending him flying several feet. Everyone recognized the gorilla right away – Gerard Shugel, the Ultra-Humanite.

Ultra-Humanite beat on his chest, and the Allied soldiers began to concentrate some of their efforts onto the beast. Peggy shot Ultra-Humanite right in the stomach, to which the gorilla yelled in pain and charged towards the British agent. Bucky, Cap, Wildcat, and Rock all fired upon Ultra-Humanite, but the gorilla was able to dodge their bullets even while in agony.

"Damned stupid monkey!" Sergeant Rock yelled in frustration.

Ultra-Humanite charged towards Cap and Wildcat, slamming the former with the back of his hand, Cap tried to shield himself, but it could do little good against the powerful ape.

Then a green-haired lady clad in green body armor teleported seemingly from nowhere and kicked Cap in the stomach with a smirk on her face. This lady was Ophelia Sarkissian, aka Viper. She had no powers aside from toxic immunity, but she carried on her person a teleportation ring that granted her the ability to teleport. She decked Cap in the face as he tried to get up, still smirking, before she turned and faced Ultra-Humanite.

"Remember, Shugel. No survivors!"

"Already knew that, Viper!" Ultra-Humanite replied, before he screamed in rage and tried to grab Peggy by the leg, only to get shot in the chest by Bucky.

Ultra-Humanite glared at Bucky and let out a deafening screech. He then proceeded to beat on his chest and decked Bucky in the chest, sending him flying.

Rock opened fire at the ape, as did Cap, but Ultra-Humanite remained standing. Ultra-Humanite stood there for a moment and grinned, before Black Canary came running from behind and unleashed her Canary Cry towards him. Cap flung his shield towards Ultra-Humanite and sliced his arm off, causing the gorilla to yell in agony. Bucky got back up, and he, Rock, and Peggy began shooting at Ultra-Humanite nonstop, until a pool of blood was spilling out from the ape.

Bucky breathed a breath of relief and looked at Cap. "Never thought I'd take down a talking ape."

"I never saw any of this coming, Bucky." Cap as he went to get back his shield. As he did, however, Viper teleported in front of him and punched him in the face.

Black Canary charged towards Viper and threw out her fist, but Viper blocked her punch and kneed Canary in the stomach. Viper teleported behind her blonde opponent and kicked the back of her knee, causing Canary to fall down to the ground. Viper teleported in front of Canary and yanked her hair before punching her in the face.

"Burn in hell, you German scum!" Canary yelled as she got up and headbutted Viper. She then let out her Canary Cry and sent Viper flying.

Cap began to shoot at Viper, but the HYDRA lady repeatedly teleported around to avoid every bullet that the Captain fired. Peggy to fire towards Viper, too, but she had just as much luck as Cap did. Black Canary let out another Canary Cry, but Viper only smirked and teleported in front of Cap, punching him in the stomach twice and then backhanding Peggy. Viper

Viper took a moment and laughed sinisterly, for Wildcat to seize the opportunity and shoot her in the back twice. Viper stood there and groaned as blood came down from her mouth before she collapsed to the ground, dead.

"Two down." Peggy noted as Cap looked at Ultra-Humanite and Viper's bodies for a few moments.

Then they heard the overwhelming crackling of lightning, and saw Jay and Whizzer speeding around, battling Clariss. They stopped for a moment, and while Cap, Wildcat, Canary, and the soldiers advanced on, Cap got a little glimpse of the speedster battle.

Clariss grabbed Jay by his shirt and threw him against the tree, knocking his helmet off. "You both waste the power and potential of the Speed Force!" Clariss yelled out, though Cap knew that neither Jay nor Whizzer would be able to understand what he was saying. Then HYDRA soldiers began firing at the Captain, and he concentrated his efforts and shot right back.

"Say," Whizzer said with a smile as he punched Clariss from behind. "Why does he call himself the Reverse- _Flash_?"

Jay super sped towards his helmet, and then punched Clariss in the stomach and in the chest. "Well, Bobby, Reverse- _Whizzer_ just sounds really lame!"

Clariss punched them both in the faces at super speed, and the three began zooming around the forest again while Cap shot at two HYDRA soldiers, sending them both falling to the ground dead. The main HYDRA base was in sight now, and Cap saw Alan, Namor, Fate, and Miss America demolishing several enemy tanks. As the HYDRA base was only about fifty feet away, something truly made him raise an eyebrow, however. He saw a Canadian solider get shot at several times – only for the solider to keep storming on as the bullets simply popped out of his chest and stomach.

The soldier noticed Cap's confusion. "Nothin' to see here, bub." He said, before he resumed opening fire at the enemy soldiers.

Several HYDRA soldiers then tried to circle around Cap, but he bashed at several of them with his shield while Peggy, Bucky, and Rock killed the rest. However, Rock was then shot in the chest by an enemy soldier, and he was forced to kneel down to the ground while Cap rushed to his aid.

"Damnit it all to hell!" Rock yelled out as blood spilled from his chest, before groaning in pain.

"It'll be alright, Sergeant!" Cap reassured Rock, before he was forced to deflect bullet fire with his shield.

Then a soldier shot Peggy in the shoulder, but since she never got the Super Soldier Serum, this would be more severe, and Cap knew it. "Peggy, no!" He yelled out.

"Steve, just fight on!" She said as she held her shoulder in agony. Cap had no time to reply, because all of a sudden, shadow beings circled Cap and began punching and kicking him. And he immediately knew who was responsible – Ian Karkull.

Ian Karkull was an American archeologist who had mastered several mystic forces that allowed him to gain access to a realm known as the Shadowlands. He could summon shadow beings from this realm, and unfortunately for the Allies, Schmidt and Krieger persuaded Karkull and gained his loyalty. And now he levitated in the air, clad in green and lime armor, and watching as his shadow beings began manifesting out of thin air.

Shadow beings were everywhere now, and Bucky was firing at them while trying to protect Peggy and Rock. Jay, Whizzer, and Clariss all zoomed into the area, and Jay and Whizzer decked and kicked Clariss a few times before they looked at each other, began vibrating their hands, and phased them through Clariss' chest. The Reverse-Flash fell dead to the ground, and Jay and Whizzer began super speeding around, trying to combat the shadow beings.

"Did you all think you were going to get through so easily?!" Karkull gloated as he continued to levitate in the air.

Starman began creating yellow energy blasts with his rod and shot them all towards Karkull, causing him to crash to the ground. "You Nazis and your unbearable arrogance…"

Cap began bashing at the shadow beings with his shield, and they would instantly dissipate. Whizzer and Jay both super sped around and defeated as many shadow beings as he could, before one of them decked Jay in the face and it and two others began kicking him around. Alan grabbed all three with a giant hand construct and flung them away while Namor charged down towards the shadow beings.

In the midst of all this, more and more Allied soldiers were falling down to the ground as HYDRA was beginning to gain the upper hand. Cap was barely able to deflect a bullet that fired out of seemingly nowhere, and he saw that it was Baron Heinrich Zemo who had fired towards him. Heinrich was clad in a muted purple military outfit, but what really stuck was the purple mask on his face.

"Well, well, well…Captain America. Give it up, Rogers! You've already lost!" Heinrich said before he prepared to shoot at Cap again. But the Captain deflected the next bullet and bashed Zemo with his shield. Zemo slammed his gun towards Cap's face, and managed to get a good jab. He then grabbed Cap by his shoulders and headbutted him in the face, before Cap managed to punch him in the stomach. Zemo tried to uppercut Cap, but the super soldier dodged and gritted his teeth as he readied himself to finish off Zemo once and for all.

Meanwhile, Jay, Namor, and Alan had all taken to battling Karkull. They all got in as many jabs and kicks as they could, before Karkull merely grinned. The blood that was running down his nose disappeared, and he manifested into a shadow form. He decked Alan in the face, and punched Namor in the stomach twice, and then kicked Jay in the stomach.

While this happened, Zemo readied his gun and prepared to shoot Cap again, but Cap acted first and shot Zemo's gun out of his hand. Zemo yelled in pain, and Cap bashed at him with his shield again. Zemo punched Cap in the chest with his good hand and kicked him in the upper leg, but Cap punched Zemo once in the chest and three times in the face, and then kicked him down to the ground. As his opponent groaned and tried to get up, Cap aimed his gun and shot Zemo, killing him instantly.

Starman, Namora, and Miss America all fought out the shadow beings…only for Krieger to come flying out from the HYDRA base. Miss America tried to punch him in the face, only for Krieger to swiftly dodge and elbow her in the stomach. Starman blasted at Krieger, but he only grabbed Starman's Gravity Rod away from him and crushed it, causing him to fall down to the ground.

Just as he was a few feet away from falling to his death, Namora swooped in and grabbed him just in time. "Just fall back, Ted. We'll handle this." Namora assured as she brought Starman to the ground properly, only for the two to see Miss America crashing to the ground. Doctor Fate blasted mystical fire at Krieger, but the Nazi loyalist grabbed the Helmet of Fate off from Fate's head and threw it down to the ground, before knocking the sorcerer out by punching him in the face four times.

Cap wished he could help in the fight against Krieger, but there was nothing he could do. All he could do was try and fight off the shadow beings alongside Bucky and Wildcat. He saw Jay, Alan, and Namor fighting off Karkull, and they were still seemingly overwhelmed by the shadow man. That is, until Alan created a sword and began slashing at Karkull repeatedly. Karkull yelled in agony, and Jay and Namor began throwing in their punches and kicks, while Alan slashed at him with his sword construct, until Karkull finally roared in agony and exploded into a bunch of black energy – energy that looked like it seeped its way through the three heroes that had defeated him.

With Karkull's death, the shadow beings disappeared, to Cap's great relief. He immediately rushed towards Rock and Peggy, hoping they were still alright.

"Don't worry about us, Captain!" Rock yelled out as he continued to hold his chest.

"Go, Steve." Peggy said as she groaned in pain. "Finish off HYDRA. For good."

Steve gave Peggy a loving smile before he charged towards the HYDRA base, but not before he saw Torch crash down to the ground by the hand of Krieger. Knowing he could not fight Krieger, Cap ran on into the base, gunning the HYDRA soldiers one-by-one.

Wildcat yelled enthusiastically as he grabbed a HYDRA soldier and snapped his neck, as he charged on alongside Cap and Bucky, gunning down the enemies. The amount of Allied and enemy soldiers on the ground was about even, something Cap would not accept. He bashed several of the soldiers with his shield, sending them falling down as he dashed on, hoping to finish off Schmidt, or the 'Red Skull', as propaganda referred to him as.

They ran into Arnim Zola, who's eyes widened upon seeing the Allied forces, and he immediately threw his hands up in the air. "No! No, goddamnit! My life's work can't go to waste!" He yelled out as he tried to run for his life. Bucky and Wildcat looked at each and smirked both they both opened fire at Zola, firing a total of seven bullets. Zola fell dead on the floor, and Bucky looked at Cap.

"That guy was always lame." He said as Cap bashed two more HYDRA soldiers against the wall before they, Wildcat, and the surviving Allied soldiers continued to storm the base.

It was only a few minutes before they reached the central, main area of the base – and among many HYRDRA soliders, there stood Schmidt at the top balcony, and what looked like several gigantic missiles. The missiles themselves would've been daunting enough, but they were all glowing purple, which unsettled more than a few of the Allied soldiers.

"Captain America!" Schmidt yelled while smiling smugly. "You and your fellow 'superheroes' may have mowed down my own super freaks, but that doesn't matter. The war's conclusion has already been written." Red Skull had in his hand a control button, and Cap knew that couldn't mean anything good. He looked at Bucky when the latter fired his rifle towards Red Skull, who was forced to dodge. "Finish them off!" Schmidt screamed towards his men, who began firing at the Allies.

Luckily for them, Jay and Whizzer showed up to the scene and plowed through many of the soldiers while Cap and Bucky ran towards Schmidt, wanting to take him out themselves. Both repeatedly shot at the leader of HYDRA, and he was forced to try and take cover before he could launch the missiles. Wildcat continued to shoot at the soldiers while Jay and Whizzer fought on, snapping the necks of several soldiers at super speed.

Cap and Bucky ran up towards the balcony and Bucky shot at Schmidt once more, though he just barely missed. Cap went to shoot Schmidt, only to find out that he was out of ammo. Instead, he jumped and, with his enhanced capabilities, was able to kick Schmidt right in the face. He bashed Schmidt around with his shield and punched him twice in the face and once in the chests, before Schmidt punched back.

"Of all you American pieces of shit, you're the one I hate most!" Schmidt spit out as he then kicked Cap in the stomach.

Cap simply glared at the Red Skull. "When even Hitler is afraid of you, you need to rethink your life."

Schmidt only grinned. "Hitler's not willing to go far enough. That's why I will rise when he falls!"

He held Schmidt in place, allowing Bucky to try and put him down for good. But Bucky was distracted when he saw Alan and Namor crashing into the room, with Krieger flying into the room with a death glare on his face. Schmidt elbowed Cap in the stomach and damn near pressed the button, only for Cap to slam him in the face with his shield. Schmidt tried to get up, but Cap kicked him in the chest, causing the orb he had been carrying with him to slip out of his jacket pocket.

Cap noted that it was also glowing purple, like the missiles, and Bucky evidently did, too, when he aimed towards the orb.

"No! You fool! Don't!" Schmidt pleaded, but it was too late. Bucky shot the orb, and it began to spaz out as purple energy emitting everywhere in the room. Schmidt grabbed the orb and breathed heavily as Cap tried to figure out what he was doing, but then the energy intensified and he made a run for it along with Bucky. There was an explosion of purple flame, and when Cap looked up, both Schmidt and the orb were gone.

He wondered what the hell had just happened, but his train of thought wasn't helped when he saw Namor and Jay battling Krieger, with Whizzer and Wildcat both laid unconscious on the ground. Alan, meanwhile, began to smash at the missile panels with an energy-constructed hammer, deactivating them. Of the ten missiles, he had done this with nine of them when Krieger grabbed him and threw him towards Namor, causing them both to crash towards the wall. Krieger then grabbed Bucky by his shirt and flew up, bursting out the room.

Cap looked with horror as he could just barely see Krieger swing Bucky around and throw him off, knowing how that he was done for.

Krieger then zoomed towards Cap and decked him hard in the face, sending him flying. "Now you, Rogers…I want to savor your suffering."

Even with the implication that he was holding back, Krieger's punches and kicks hurt like hell as Cap could do little to fight back. He tried to punch the Nazi in the face, but Krieger quickly dodged this and punched Cap in the stomach three times, each time hurting worse than the last. Blood ran down from Cap's nose as he tried to bash Krieger with his shield, only for him to dodge and elbow the Captain in the chest.

Cap was just barley saved when Jay zoomed towards Krieger and began punching him at super speed. Krieger let out a war cry and zoomed towards the balcony, Jay following close behind and grabbed him by his uniform back to where Cap was standing. However, they both see that Krieger had grabbed hold of the button – and he pressed it, and fumes began to exhaust out from the tenth missile.

"No! NO!" Cap yelled out. He grabbed a grenade from a dead soldier and charged towards the missile as fast as he could.

"You cannot win, Captain!" Krieger said as he flew towards Cap, with Jay just barely stopping him.

While Jay held off Krieger, Cap just barely made it to the balcony and jumped towards the missile, stabbing it with his shield.

When the missile shot up into the air, Cap couldn't believe the speeds. He may have never done anything like this before, but this didn't feel right. Cap figured that the purple energy, whatever it was, had enhanced the missile considerably, and it stormed out of the forest at unbelievable speeds. Even with his enhanced stamina, Cap could barely keep on.

But he had to. He could tell that this missile could cause death and destruction unlike anything the world had ever seen before. He gritted his teeth and grunted as he stabbed the missile panel out with his shield, throwing it down to the distant ground below. Cap honestly couldn't decipher how he hadn't been blown off the missile yet, but he knew that one wrong slip and he would indeed be sent flying off.

He groaned as he got the grenade out from his belt, but he almost slipped off the missile, and he was forced to just try and stay on. Several minutes passed as Cap tried with all his might not to get blown off the missile. And as he saw water down below, he know he had to act right away, before this missile's target was blown to kingdom come.

Finally, he grabbed the grenade, detonated it, and threw it into the missile. And then he let go. And as he fell down, towards the freezing waters below, the missile exploded, letting out purple energy several thousand feet around. Cap lost unconsciousness as he drew closer and closer to the waters below.

* * *

Back at the base, Peggy and Rock both looked up at the explosion, able to see it from quite afar. Among the unconscious superheroes, Torch got up, and also witnessed the explosion.

Peggy and Rock's attention was taken when Jay, Alan, and Namor charged out of the base, with an unconscious Krieger in hand. Jay had a solemn look on his face and took his helmet off, placing it by his chest and looking down. Alan also frowned, and even Namor didn't look too happy.

"Steve's gone." Jay said in a voice as solemn as his face, and Peggy looked back up at the sky, tearing up as Jay went to comfort her.


	3. Man Out Of Time

Slowly, the world showed itself to Captain America once more.

It was all a blur to him, but he could make out that he was in what looked like a silver, advanced medical room. What was really on his mind, though, was the man in the room. He saw a strange combination of tan, brown, green, and black.

As his vision cleared, he could better make out the man. He was a brown-haired man, looking to be in his mid-twenties. He wore an outfit with a green torso that went black at the legs and the sleeves. His boots and wrists were also green, while his he wore black on his hands. Cap let out a very weak groan, one that the man seemingly did not hear. He had his back turned to Cap, and he held his hand up, with some strange device in his ear. But then Cap's eyes widened when he saw a green ring on the man's right hand, just like Alan Scott.

"You got stuff at the forensic lab?" The man said. The fact that he spoke English, and not towards Cap, ruled out the possibility of him being a Nazi, though Cap couldn't help but feel that something terrible had happened to Alan. "Well, no, it's alright. We won't be going there for a while anyway. As soon as I'm done with my little shift of watching the comatose relic, Danvers and I are gonna head to the Chinese place. And Barry, don't be _too_ late."

Cap saw his shield hanging let on the wall, and he let out a louder groan. The man turned around, and Cap could see that he wore a domino mask on his face – and that he looked completely shocked.

"Holy shit!" The man yelled out. "Um..uh…" the man didn't look like he knew what to do, resulting in a few seconds of silence. "I am the Green Lantern of Sector 2814. And Captain America…boy, are you in for a shock."

The man then held up his hand towards the device in his ear again. "This is Hal Jordan, contacting the entire Vanguard. Captain America is awake. I repeat, Captain America is awake."

Hal Jordan, 'Green Lantern of Sector 2814'. Cap didn't like the sound of it at all. Alan Scott was the Green Lantern, and now Cap was absolutely sure that this man had killed his friend and taken his namesake for himself. And Hal was going to pay for that.

" _Green_ _Lantern_?!" Cap screamed out, and Hal jumped in apparent surprise.

"Alright, Cap, calm down…"

Cap jumped out from his bed and decked Hal in the face before going and grabbing his shield from the wall, which he used to bash Hal twice.

"Hey, hey!" Hal shouted out as he blocked a punch from Cap. "I'm not your enemy, alright! The Vanguard wants to help you!"

"Don't give me your lies! Now tell me, what did you do to the real Green Lantern?! What have you done with Alan Scott?!"

He tried to punch Hal again, but the brown-haired man dodged him and created a rope with his ring, which he used to tie Cap up.

"Alright, Cap! Listen here!" Hal shouted with exasperation, and Cap just stood there trying to break free. "I am not your enemy. The Vanguard are not your enemies. And the world you've woken up to is very different from the one you were frozen in. We want to help you, alright? And I did nothing to Alan Scott. Alan Scott is still alive. He's a broadcast executive here in New York, and he's doing well. Trust me."

Cap looked at Hal for a moment before nodding, and the rope construct disappeared. Cap just couldn't bring himself to believe this man, however. It couldn't have been _that_ long since the final battle with HYDRA, and he couldn't at all see Alan leaving his job as a railroad engineer. He narrowed his eyes at the new Lantern and punched him in the face.

"Oh, come on!" Hal yelled. Cap bashed him with his shield twice, then grabbed him and threw him towards the medical bed.

He prepared to leave the room when he saw another brown-haired man running through the hallaway. This man stood several inches shorter than him or Hal, and he wore glasses, a dark grey jacket with a white shirt underneath, grey pants, and black shoes.

"I came here as quickly as I could –"

Cap simply bashed the man with his shield, knocking him to the ground. He prepared to run, but then the man got up, and what got Cap's attention was his brown eyes turning green. The man began to groan and yell as if he were in a lot of pain, and Cap wasn't sure of what to do. He snapped out of it and prepared to run, only to stop in his tracks when he saw the man scream at the top of his lungs – and grow more than a few inches in height.

"What the hell?" Cap said as he simply watched in shock.

"You've made Dr. Banner very angry," Hal replied as he walked up to Cap and the man. "And you won't like him when he's angry."

Cap turned back to face 'Banner'…only to find a gigantic green man roaring as his glasses fell off, his pants turned purple and his shirts and shoes ripped up beyond repair. What the hell was with this guy? Now Cap's eyes widened as he had no idea what to do now. The man…no, the monster looked at him and let out another roar before charging towards him. Hal created a circular sphere that surrounded Cap, and ended up protecting him as Banner began pounding and punching the sphere.

Cap was sure Hal was only protecting him because they needed him for later testing, but he still felt a tad grateful. As Banner continued to try and break the sphere, Cap thought about how there was no way to fight this monster. The closest thing he ever saw to anything like this was Ultra-Humanite. But Cap didn't have a gun, and he couldn't be certain that guns would put Banner down so easily.

Hulk began banging his hands onto the sphere as Hal gritted his teeth, and Cap used the opportunity to run. He saw a very tall and bald green man clad in blue armor and a cape, with a red 'X' on his chest, flying towards Banner and Hal. Cap didn't care to learn his story. He just wanted to get out.

He saw a clear elevator and a staircase, and headed down the latter. He went down several flights of chrome stairs until he was finally at the lowest floor…but there was no door. There wasn't any way out.

Cap began to breathe heavily, wondering how this place worked, when Hal levitated down towards him.

"Like I said, Cap. We're here to help you. Let me show you something." Hal said, before encasing Cap in a green bubble and flying towards a circular orange area with black stripes around it. They went to the center, and Hal pressed a button on the device in his other ear that activated a blue beam and sent them outside.

Cap now saw the outside world. It looked like Manhattan, but he couldn't begin to describe the differences to himself.

All he could let sink in was that Manhattan looked significantly more advanced. Everything just had a more sleek look to it. He looked around more, and now he could see that everyone was wearing very different clothes than anything he had seen before. Men and women look sported blue pants, and the shirts and the coats they wore threw Cap off a great deal. What confused him most of all, however, was the rectangular devices that nearly everyone had in their hands – and they all pointed towards Cap, with some flashes coming from the phone.

Hal looked around with Cap. "Before any of you ask, yes. This is the real Captain America, unthawed from ice and welcomed to the 21st Century!"

There were a few 'oos' as the flashes of light continued. Then Cap noticed three figures levitating up in the sky. One was a bulky, also very tall man with long blonde hair and a beard, who had a red cape and a sleeveless blue outfit with yellow boots and light blue circles on his chest. Cap tried to figure out the deal with the second man…if it even was a man. It was a being clad in what looked like highly advanced red armor, with a glowing white center, a yellow faceplate and other yellow parts here and there.

And finally, there was a muscular black-haired man, wearing a blue outfit with a red cape and boots. And on his chest was a red upside down triangle shaded yellow on the inside, sans a red 'S' in the center. And that man smiled at Captain America, while the soldier just looked on, evermore baffled.

* * *

Cap walked back into the 'Vanguard Tower' as it was called, located on 890 Fifth Avenue. Cap remembered coming by that address before, and he didn't remember exactly what was here, but it certainly wasn't this. Not this gigantic chrome base.

The interior, he had to admit, was nice, even if it was mostly just the same silver color. He looked at the men who had been levitating outside, who had all introduced themselves. The green-skinned man was J'onn J'onzz, or the 'Martian Manhunter', and he had claimed to be the last of the 'Green' Martians. The blonde man was Thor, the genuine Norse God of Thunder. The robot-looking dude turned out to be a man after all, namely Tony Stark, billionaire owner of Stark Enterprises and the 'Iron Man'. And finally, the black-haired man was Clark Kent, or 'Superman', and he claimed to be the Last Son of Krypton.

He walked around the base with the four and Hal, completely taken aback by what was going on, and to be in the presence of a god and two aliens.

"So you said the 21st Century…" Cap said, desperate for answers as to his predicament.

"It's the year 2015, Captain." Superman replied. 70 years exact since the day he took down HYDRA.

"2015….oh boy…" Was all Cap could sputter in response. He just tried to let that sink in. He felt he would be lucky to be alive by this point, much less the young blonde man he was back in World War II.

"It's alright, Mr. Rogers. We'll help you accustom to this new time period." Manhunter reassured, placing his hand on Cap's shoulder – and Cap felt daunted by just how tall he and Thor were.

"Ay, Captain Rogers! 'Tis a time to be _alive_!" Thor boasted, holding up his hammer, Mjolnir, up with a grin on his face.

Cap just grimaced. "…Right…" He began to wonder about all of his friends and comrades from the war. He already knew Alan was still alive, but he wondered about everyone else. Jay, Namor, Wildcat, Torch….and Peggy.

Then he saw Banner, clothed in nothing but his pants, running up towards them – he had been told by Hal moments before that what happened was that Bruce Banner turns into a creature called 'the Hulk' when angered. When he stopped running, he took a moment to breathe, and he looked very regretful.

"Captain America, I am _so_ sorry. I didn't think I could hate myself more than I already do, but just…damnit! I swear, I'll make it up to you!"

Cap sighed. "It's alright, Doctor Banner. I don't know what got into me. I think I was just a bit off due to 70 years in the ice."

Banner let out a nervous chuckle. "Usually, I just wish the Grey Hulk would win more often."

Hal, Thor, Iron Man, and Superman all looked just as confused as Cap when Banner said that.

"Since when the hell is there a _Grey_ Hulk?" Iron Man asked, his faceplate off so that Cap was able to see that he was a dark-brown haired man with a goatee.

Banner rubbed his neck. "It's a long story. J'onn and I might tell you one day."

There was a moment of silence before Superman placed his hand on Cap's shoulder. "The rest of the Vanguard will be on their way shortly. Trust me, we've all been looking forward to this moment."

Right as Superman said that, Cap took notice of the blue beam that randomly spouted out from the teleporter. After the blue beam disappeared, there stood a man in a dark, dark grey armored outfit, with a yellow belt, black gloves and boots, and a cowl with pointed tips on the top of his head. And finally, there was a bat-shaped logo on his chest. He approached Cap and the rest with a glare on his face.

"And who are you supposed to be?" Cap asked.

The man looked at Cap for a moment before replying, "I'm Batman."

Superman shook his head. "Batman, we already talked about how we would reveal our identities to Captain America when we got him out of the ice. He needs a social circle, after all."

"Yeah, Batsy!" Iron Man added on, sounding more frustrated than Superman did. "If I had to do it, so do you!"

Batman looked at them for a moment before looking back at Cap. "Bruce Wayne."

"He's a multibillionaire, just like Tony." Superman said to Cap, who looked a little confused.

"Well, now I wanna know…how long ago did you find me?"

"Three weeks ago. You were in a coma for a while, Mr. Rogers." Superman replied, and Cap took note of his polite tone.

Then three more beams shined towards Cap's eyes, and there was a man and two women. The man was clad in a red outfit with a black logo, gloves, and boots, and a silver helmet with red lenses. The taller of the women had long black hair and was dressed like a magician, complete with a top hat, while the smaller one had a black outfit, with yellow boots, gloves, chest markings, and a golden helmet.

They all walked up to Cap, with the armored man and woman taking off their helmets. The man had light-brown hair and five o'clock shadow, while the woman looked to be Asian, with very dark brown hair.

"It…it is an honor to meet you, Cap." The smaller woman said somewhat sheepishly. "I'm Janet van Dyne, or, the Wasp, as I go by when I'm punching bad guys." Then wings popped up from her outfit and she suddenly shrunk til she was about six inches tall, and began flying around, to Cap' surprise.

"And I'm Dr. Hank Pym, but you may call me the Ant-Man." The man said, rubbing his helmet briefly before looking back up. "I can also shrink in size. Can't fly, which is why I won't right now. But I can communicate with ants."

Wasp flew around for a moment before sitting on the magician's shoulder, and the woman smiled at Cap. "Zatanna Zatara at your service." She said, and out of nowhere, poker cards appeared in her gloved hand, and she held them up while still smiling.

Hank held out his hand, and Cap shook it. "Very nice to meet you three."

Then another woman came from the teleporter. She had long blonde hair and looked to be very tall, only barely shorter than Cap. She wore a navy blue outfit with a red mask and more red by her shoulders. She also wore red gloves, boots, and some kind of robe belt on her waist, she had a yellow logo on her chest with strips coming out of it, underneath the red area.

"It's a huge honor, Captain Rogers!" She said as she walked up towards the Captain. "I'm Carol Danvers. I fight crime as Captain Marvel. And I apologize if Highball over there gave you a bad impression of us." She added on with a smirk, nodding her head towards Hal.

"Come on, Danvers…" Hal said with a chuckle.

Then another person came from the teleporter. It was another, black-haired woman, even taller than Carol – hell, she looked to stand taller than everyone sans Thor and Manhunter. She had red armor on her chest, with gold on the top and bottom. She wore a yellow tiara, golden bracelets, a blue battle skirt, and red boots, and she carried a sword and shield, with a lasso on her side.

"So you're the great Captain America." She said in a curious voice. "I am Diana of Themyscira. Man has dubbed me 'Wonder Woman'."

Cap chuckled – there were 12 of them standing before him now, just as big as the Liberty Brigade. He looked towards Superman. "So is this everyone?"

"No." Superman replied, his arms crossed. "We got three more coming."

But it was five people who came out of the teleporter. One was a man clad in all-black, with a cat-like mask and some small areas of silver here and there. The other was a dark blonde-haired man, with stubble and an orange scaly torso with green legs and yellow belt. But it was the other three who truly got Cap's attention – Jay, Namor, and Alan.

He smiled – they had aged very well, each looking to be in their late fifties. Jay and Namor sported the same outfits that they did back in the war, while Alan had a more armored look to him now. Alan and Namor both sported beards, and Namor and Jay's hair were graying. They looked at Cap, and they all stood there in complete shock for a few moments. Jay sped up to Cap while the other four walked up to him. They all stared at Cap, before Jay grinned.

"It is him…it really is him. Steve, you're alive!" Jay said excitedly, and he went and hugged Cap while laughing loudly. Cap hugged him back while smiling. Alan began chuckling while Namor smiled and shook his head.

Namor then looked at Alan. "See, Scott. Did I not tell you we should've looked harder?"

"Shut up, Namor." Alan murmured, and Steve laughed. Their relationship hadn't changed in 70 years.

"To see you again, Cap…!" Jay said as he pulled away, while Alan and Namor approached Cap and placed their hands on their comrade's shoulders. "It's just…it's amazing…"

Everyone else just watched as the four had their reunion.

"Trust me, Cap. This is the best thing that's happened to me in a long time." Alan said, sighing and looking down at the ground.

"And to me, too. The past few decades, they haven't all been sunshine and rainbows…." Namor said, looking depressed for a moment before perking up. "But something great happened to me a while back." Namor pointed towards the dark blonde man and the black-clad one. "The orange guy is my son, Orin. Or 'Aquaman' as he likes to go by now. And that's his friend, King T'Challa of Wakanda – and the Black Panther."

Panther took off his mask to reveal an African-American man with a goatee, while Aquaman nodded. "It is an honor, Captain." Aquaman said.

"I enjoyed studying about you in school." Panther added on.

Cap smiled at them, before looking back towards his three comrades. "So you three have aged pretty darn well."

"Yeah, we baffled at first, too." Alan clarified as he and Namor took their hands off Cap's shoulders. "But we eventually learned that the exposure to Karkull's energies from when he died slowed down our physical aging."

"That'll do it." Cap replied. Then his smile disappeared, and he stood silent for a few moments before asking, "Are any of the other Brigadiers alive? What about Rock and Peggy? And Bucky…" He knew Bucky's chances of survival were very low, but he wanted to hear the final confirmation.

Alan sighed. "Rock and the rest of the Brigade, they've all passed, and we never found Bucky. But Peggy's still alive, in London."

Cap was sad to hear everyone else pass on, but he was happy he could see Peggy again. He wondered about what the last 70 years had been like for her….

"A lot has changed, Cap." Alan added on.

"Indeed it has, if I may pipe in." Superman said as he approached the four, and Cap in particular. "And I have an offer for you, Captain. You can stay here, and join the Vanguard of Justice. Trust me, it won't be easy for a 40s man such as yourself to adjust to the modern world. The Vanguard can, and wants to, help you, Captain America. If you so choose, of course."

Superman held out his hand, and Cap thought about it for a moment, before deciding that he probably would benefit from some aid in adjusting to the modern world. He shook Superman's hand, and Superman chuckled. "I'm shaking hands with Captain America…" Superman whispered, which Cap could barely hear.

"Pardon?"

Superman cleared his throat in response to the soldier. "My bad, Captain. It's just that I've greatly admired you ever since I was a kid."

Cap let go of Superman's hand and smiled. "It's alright. And you can call me Steve."

Superman smiled, but before either of them could say anything more, the teleporter came on and one more man showed his face. He was a man who wore red with yellow boots. He had lightning on his wrists and belt, and he had a yellow logo with white in the inside and a yellow lightning bolt at the center. And finally, he had wingtips at his mask.

"Sorry I'm late, everyone!" The man said, and Cap saw Hank shaking his head and Batman sighing. The man looked to be capable of super speed as he zoomed towards Cap right away, and he took off his mask to reveal a blonde face. "My name is Barry Allen, and I'm The Flash. Well, the second Flash."

The two shook hands, and Cap chuckled once more. "Two Green Lanterns _and_ two Flashes…"

"Yeah, it's amusing…." Jay said, but then he frowned and looked at Cap solemnly. "But Steve, if you want to see Peggy, I gotta get you to London right away. She doesn't have much time left."

Cap's eyes widened as he now worried for his dear love.


	4. Final Farewell

Cap took a moment to place his shield on his back before they traveled the Atlantic. In about a minute or two, Cap found himself from the Vanguard Tower in New York to the Royal Free Hospital down in London, and feeling weird due to having just crossed an entire ocean. They were both at the front desk, and Cap was confused as to why Jay didn't give them time to put on civilian clothes (not that Cap really had any clothes now). The brunette lady at the front desk looked at the two in complete shock, her eyeliner-covered eyes wide as she struggled to find words.

"Um, uh, M-Mr. Jay Garrick. Hello, sir." The lady said, and Cap just looked at Jay in confusion, particularly about how she recognized him.

"We're here to see Margaret Carter. I'm an old friend, and, um…so is he." Jay replied.

The lady looked a little nervous. "Uh, uh, yes. Let me look her up. Sorry, I'm just a little overwhelmed right now." She went and looked it up on some device unlike anything Cap had ever seen before.

He tapped Jay's shoulder. "Hey, what's that thing she's working with?"

"That would be a computer, Steve. They're _big_ in today's society. I'll tell you more later."

"Alright, she's in Room 3302. And um…" She particularly eyed Cap, looking very confused. "Forgive me for asking, but why are you dressed as Captain America? I know he and Peggy had a thing during the war, but…"

Cap sheepishly rubbed his neck. "I…I _am_ Steve. Well, I mean, I'm Captain America. Got thawed out from ice by the 'Vanguard of Justice' group a few weeks ago, and woke up from _that_ like ten minutes ago. And trust me, I haven't come close to adjusting to this new world."

The lady just paused, looking even more baffled now as she struggled to find words. Jay merely chuckled.

"He really is Captain America. It should be on the news very shortly. And we're very sorry for making you so confused like this. Have a good day, ma'am."

Jay placed his hand on Cap's head to prevent the whiplash effect and super-sped away with his friend. Cap wondered about the lady, but moreso, he just wanted to see Peggy.

It was barely a few seconds before they found Room 3302, and when they did, Cap took a moment to breathe. He thought about what this would be like for Peggy. To see him again, after presuming him dead for 70 years. And especially at the young age he was in the war. He had no doubt that she still looked wonderful, though.

He and Jay looked into the room, and Cap took notice of the young lady in the room. She was a blonde woman who looked to be in her mid-to-late twenties, and she wore a tan trenchcoat with tan gloves, jeans, and boots. And she bore a worried look on her face.

Cap and Jay walked into the room, and the lady noticed them right away. "Hello, Garrick." She said with a smile, a smile that faded when she looked at Cap. "Um..." She looked to be at a loss of words.

"S-Steve?" An elderly voice cried, and Cap turned to the hospital bed. And that's when he saw her.

It was Peggy. Her brown hair had turned silver, and her face had several wrinkles, with arms more boney that she bore during the war. But Cap didn't care. She was still beautiful to him.

"I-is that you?" She added on, looking very confused.

Cap smiled. "It's me, Peggy."

The blonde lady looked very confused, and Jay looked at her and nodded.

Peggy now looked completely overjoyed, and had a very big smile on her face, with a few tears streaming down from her eyes. "I…I don't…how…"

"I was frozen in ice the last 70 years. Just…just got thawed out."

The blonde lady still confused as all hell, and Peggy smiled. "Steve, this is my niece, Sharon."

Cap took a moment to note how many people he had met today before walking towards Sharon and shaking her hand. "My aunt's told me a lot of stories about you, Captain. I..I…I just don't get this."

Cap felt his hand with his right hand. "Yeah, trust me, I'm still wrapping my head around it."

He looked at Peggy again, and there was a moment of silence as the two eyed each other – and smiled.

Peggy began shaking her head. "No. I must be seeing things. You're not really there, are you, Steve?"

Jay adjusted his helmet. "It's him, Peggy. Trust me, he's really there."

Peggy sighed, and there was a long pause as she simply looked at Cap with a content and peaceful look on her face. It was after about a minute that she broke the silence. "I could never fall in love again after you came along, Steve. I just couldn't."

Cap looked down at the ground and sighed. "I'm sorry about that."

"Don't be." She replied with a reassuring tone. "No man could ever replace you."

Then her breathing became more erratic as it seemed to become a struggle for her, and Sharon jumped, that worried look returning to her face. Cap walked up to her hospital bed and reached for her hand, making sure not to hold it too tight due to her fragile and ailing state. Cap now frowned at the reality before him.

Peggy then took a few moments to breathe heavily, before she made eye contact with Steve once more. "Y-you…you…you missed out on…so much, Steve."

Cap gave Peggy's hand a slight squeeze. He was worried about accidentally hurting her, but he had to do something. He felt so helpless.

"Peggy, no!" Sharon cried down, tears flowing down from her eye as she gripped onto the bar of the hospital bed.

"It's…it's alright, sweetheart." Peggy said in a comforting voice. Meanwhile, Jay had a solemn look on his face, and Cap sighed again as he knew the hourglass had almost run its course with Peggy.

Peggy then looked at Cap. "En…Enjoy the world, Steve. Enjoy your live."

Cap smiled back. "I will, Peggy. I will."

Then Peggy's hand lost all feeling. And then the hospital monitor, which Cap did not recognize, showed a flatlining sign. But he could already tell that Peggy was gone.

Cap closed his eyes and looked down. Jay placed his hand on his shoulder. Then Sharon started to cry, and Jay moved towards her, giving her a comforting hug. Cap simply placed his hand on his head. He hadn't even woken up from his 70 years in the ice half an hour ago, and he had already lost the love of his life. He looked down at Peggy's dead body, and finally let go of her hand. A nurse came into the room, and upon seeing what had happened, placed the blanket over Peggy's body.

Cap turned around and pressed his head against the wall, and let out one more sigh.

* * *

By the time of Peggy's funeral, the news of Captain America's revival had made headlines all around the world. Thus, there were many eyes and faces on him during the service, which had dozens of attendees. Cap ignored all of them, however. He stood with his fellow Brigaiders, Joan – who Cap noted had aged remarkably well, looking to be in her late 60s when she was actually in her 90s -, and Aquaman, and watched as Peggy's coffin, with the Union Jack covered onto it, was lowered down towards her grave.

A few hours later, after the dinner, Cap returned to Peggy's grave, with Sharon standing next to him. Cap wore a grey suit with a blue tie while Sharon donned a black dress with dark red lipstick, and eye makeup that had worn from her tears. They didn't say a word to each other. They just looked at Peggy's grave for a few seconds, before Sharon broke the silence.

"I want you to know…you don't disappoint, Steve. You really seem like the man she always spoke of."

Cap turned and locked eyes with his fellow blonde. "Thanks. It means a lot."

Then they turned around and saw Jay, Joan, Alan, Namor, Aquaman, all dressed up appropriately. With them was a brown-haired man in a tux and a red tie that Cap recognized from the funeral, but had not properly met yet.

The man walked up to Sharon. "I spoke to Director Fury, and there's been no change of plan regarding Wellington."

Sharon sniffed. "That's fine."

The man turned and faced Cap, a sudden smile forming on his lips. "Captain America…man, I am just the biggest fan. I can't believe you're standing right in front me. I'm Phil. Phil Coulson."

Coulson held out his hand, and Cap paused for a moment before shaking it, having gotten used to shaking a lot of hands over the last few days. But then he felt a little odd when he tried to pull away, only for Coulson to keep shaking while sporting a big grin. Cap let out an 'eh', but Coulson wouldn't let go of his hand. He still grinned, and they shook hands for much longer than Cap thought any regular person would be comfortable with. Jay and Sharon both chuckled, and Cap finally had to say something.

"Um, Phil –"

Coulson's eyes widened and his smile disappeared as it finally seemed to click into his mind. Coulson quickly let go of Cap's hand and blushed. "I am really sorry, Cap! I just…I-"

"Just don't worry about it." Cap assured, and Coulson stood silent after that.

Then Joan approached Cap. "You really haven't aged a day…"

Cap rubbed his neck. "I've been told that a lot these past few weeks."

Joan looked at Cap and smiled for a moment before adding on, "And hey, if anything happens, you're free to stay with me and Jay."

"Actually, I wanted to talk about something like that." Aquaman interjected, and he approached Cap. "We have spare bedrooms back at the Tower, for when one of us is making an extended stay. As a Vanguardian, you're welcome to stay there until you get an apartment."

Cap nodded. "That's good to hear. Thanks. It helps me out a lot." He then looked down at Joan. "Thank you, too, Joan."

Aquaman then reached into his pocket. After a moment or two, he held out his hand towards Cap, with a white little device that Cap had learned the first one to be an ear comm, but the other was."The ear comm will allow you to communicate with the rest of the Vanguard at any time. This red button on the bottom will allow you to teleport in and out of the Vanguard Tower. Clark wanted me to give these to you. He sends his apologies for not being able to attend the funeral."

Cap looked at Aquaman for a moment before taking the devices out of his hand. "Thank you. And I'll tell Clark he doesn't have to sweat it."

Aquaman nodded, and Cap turned his head and looked at Peggy's grave once more before walking away with Aquaman and Namor.

After about a few seconds, Cap decided to break the silence. "So, Namor...how's Atlantis?"

Namor merely grumbled, to which Cap furrowed his eyebrow.

"We...we were forced out of Alantis a long time ago." Aquaman explained.

"Oh..." Cap said nothing else in response, feeling too awkward to say anything, figuring he could inquire Namor about this at a better time. He turned around and looked at Peggy's grave one more time before continuing to walk away.

* * *

Even with all the spare bedrooms the Vanguard Tower had, Cap woke up, back in his outfit, at the roundtable the Vanguard had at the top floor. They added an extra chair, since he had joined, and he wasn't exactly sure how he ended up sleeping here. Upon returning to New York, he spent the rest of the day exploring the Tower, and was at the roundtable very late at night.

Cap decided not to worry about it, though he chided himself for sleeping in his superhero outfit. He wanted to get out the Tower as soon as possible, so that he could explore modern New York.

He traveled through the Tower, to the bottom floor where the teleporter was located, both anxious and excited to see what Manhattan had in store for him.

"You slept in your outfit?" Manhunter asked from behind, and Cap jumped in surprise as the Martian approached him. Banner and the Manhunter both lived at the Tower, so Cap would have them as his roommates for the time being.

"Yeah, yeah, I know..."

Manhunter smiled as he ate the oreo he had in his hand.

Banner then walked up to the two, clad in regular gray pajamas. "J'onn, it's morning. Why do you eat oreos in the morning?"

"What can I say, Doctor Banner? They're quite delicious."

Cap looked at Banner, and scratched his head. "Hey, uh, Banner. I wanted to ask…how does that whole thing with your pants work? You know, when you turn into the Hulk?"

Banner looked at Cap sheepishly. "Stark and Bruce made me special pants. I have to wear them all the time."

Cap replied with a 'ah' before a beam came out of the teleporter, and Superman emerged. He walked up to Cap with a smile. "So, Captain. How did you sleep?"

"Well. I slept well."

Superman let out an 'hmm'. "That's good to hear." Then Superman's smile faded, and he looked somewhat concerned. "Hey, are you doing alright? With Peggy and all?"

Banner and the Martian Manhunter had both left at this point, leaving Cap alone with Superman. He merely let out a sigh. "It's all just so crazy. Seeing her kicking Nazi ass wasn't that long ago for me. And then just like that, she's gone."

Superman patted Cap's shoulder. "It'll be okay, Captain."

Cap made eye contact with Superman. "You know, you can just call me Steve."

"Right, right." Superman looked down at the ground for a moment before looking back at Cap. "I'm glad you took up my offer. I figured you could use some people by your side while you tried to adjust to this new world."

Cap nodded. "I've only scratched the surface. First thing I learned was that there was an entire cold war that I missed. And the Soviet Union collapsed, Africa has like a hundred countries, visual mediums are a thing, and this 'Internet' has change the game everywhere."

"Yeah, Steve. You still got a long way to –"

Then sirens began acting up, and Cap and Superman both looked surprised to hear them. They saw Banner, all transformed into the Hulk, running through the Tower, with the Martian Manhunter flying up with a distressed look.

"S.T.A.R. Labs is being attacked!" He yelled, out, before phasing through the Tower – Cap had no idea he could do that.

He, Superman, and Hulk all went to the teleporter and teleported out of the base, with Cap wondering what 'S.T.A.R. Labs' was.


	5. Resurgence

Dr. Jack Soo ran as fast as he possibly could, away from the two villains who had broken into S.T.A.R. Lab's New York base. He held paperwork in his hand, and he was breathing heavily.

He ran through the dark grey hallway of the building, hoping to find the exit as fast as possible. However, in his panic, he tripped onto the ground.

He tried to get up, but then the walls from the other room exploded. And while his fellow employees ran, two men emerged from the hole. One was a man in an all-black outfit with a purple cape, a skull & bones symbol on his chest, and part of a gigantic scythe where his right hand should've been. The other was a goateed man who also wore black, but with white gloves and boots, plus a white cape, a white star on his chest that connected to his belt, and a white fin on the top of his head.

The former had called himself 'Grim Reaper' and the latter 'Doctor Light' and they both smirked and ran towards Jack, who quickly got up and resumed running, only for Light to blast yellow energy from his hand and strike Jack in the leg, sending him down to the ground.

"Real shame Dr. Wells isn't here, isn't it?!" Light yelled, kicking Jack in the chest.

"Oh come now, Light. Dr. Wells can stay in Central City all he likes. He wouldn't change our plans in the slightest." Reaper responded.

Jack began to breathe heavily as he laid there on the ground, and the Asian man gasped when Reaper stabbed his scythe in the ground, inches away from his face.

"Dr. Jack Soo. You're in charge of this specific facility here, yes?" Reaper asked.

Jack gulped. "Y-yeah…"

"Then hand over all your tech and weaponry to us. Now."

Jack looked terrified for a moment, but then his fearful look morphed into one of determination. "…No."

Doctor Light let out a condescending sigh. "You know, I could've killed you earlier. Watch."

Light turned his back towards five S.T.A.R. Labs scientists, who were all running out of the nearby lab and away from Jack and the two menaces. Light generated yellow energy blasts and vaporized all of them.

Jack's eyes widened as they fell dead to the ground.

Light looked back at Jack, smirking. "Give us everything, and we might just spare your life, Dr. Soo."

Jack looked very nervous, and he took a deep breath. "Y-you two t-t-think you can just barge i-in here alone and take an entire facility's worth of equipment b-by yourself?"

Grim Reaper chuckled. "Of course not."

Just then, Jack listened to the sound of marching, and before he knew it, what appeared to be a platoon of soldiers marched their way towards the doctor, covered entirely in green armor and sporting golden goggles for eyes. Jack sighed, knowing how outnumbered he was.

"Now listen here, Dr. Soo." Light continued on, golden energy emitting from his hand. "We're just going to take everything you have stored here, alright? Just stand there, and don't get in our way, and we might let you live to tell the tale to Dr. Wells. Is that acceptable?"

Jack began sweating profusely. "Um…I…I…"

All three looked around when they heard a deafening roar. The soldiers readied their guns, but it was too late. Several of them were sent flying across the hallways, and it was quickly clear who was responsible: Hulk.

Hulk grabbed one of the soldiers and threw him against the wall, before bashing two more with his fist. He then looked at Light, and jumped up in the air, ready to smash Light. The doctor barely managed to create a yellow forcefield in time, while Jack used the opportunity to run.

Hulk slammed at Light's shield, and Reaper charged towards the green beast and slashed him in the chest with his scythe. Hulk looked at Reaper for a moment and roared, but before he could attack him, Cap's shield struck the scythe-wielding man right in the face.

Grim Reaper tried to slash at Cap several times, but the Captain dodged each attempt before bashing him with his shield.

Doctor Light was forced to do away with the shield, and he turned himself invisible. The Hulk looked around in confusion before he felt an energy blast around. Hulk turned around and tried to slam at Light again, but he turned invisible once more. Hulk looked around, and this time, he felt three energy blasts to the back. He roared in absolute frustration, and Light took a moment and laughed.

Only for the Martian Manhunter to phase through the wall and deck him in the face.

But Doctor Light only smirked, and yellow energy emitted around him before there were about 15 copies of him all across the hallway.

"Try and take me out now, green jeans!"

His smirk disappeared when he saw Superman zoom through all of the copies, causing them all to explode.

He gasped and looked completely shocked. "How-how did you know to do that?"

"I only heard one heartbeat among you." Superman replied, before he punched Light in the stomach, sending him flying two dozen feet away.

Hulk resumed pummeling the soldiers while Cap focused his energies on taking out Reaper. Reaper aimed his scythe towards Cap again, but Cap blocked it with his shield. Reaper tried to aim it towards Cap's leg, but he was still able to dodge it – before slapping it up towards his opponent's face. Grim Reaper cupped his chin for a moment, but as Cap charged towards him, he finally got an opportunity and slashed the super soldier in the chest.

"You are beyond your time, Captain. Allow me to put you down early." Reaper said, grinning as he did so.

Reaper darted towards Cap, but Manhunter grabbed him by the leg and threw him against the wall. As Reaper tried to get up, Cap bashed him with his shield one more time, knocking him out.

Moments later, the two saw Superman decking Doctor Light, and he, too, fell unconscious to the ground.

Hulk had plowed through all the soldiers, and began breathing heavily. Manhunter approached the Hulk and levitated up to touch his forehead. Cap had no idea what was going on, but a few seconds later, Hulk was groaning and reverting back to Bruce Banner.

His attention was taken when he saw Jack and a few other scientists walking up to the four. "Thank you, all of you. This place would've been leveled without you."

"Not a problem," Superman replied in a humble tone, "And we'll help with repairs."

Cap at Reaper and Light's unconscious bodies…and noticed an odd symbol on their shoulders. He took a closer look at Light, and his eyes widened when he saw what the symbols were. It was the logo of the red skull in a circle, with tentacles coming down underneath it.

"Hydra." He muttered, causing Superman, Hulk, and Banner to all turn their hands. "These two bare the markings of Hydra."

They all looked at each other in confusion.

Cap himself was completely baffled. "But they should've fallen with the Reich. So…how…"

* * *

"What happened now?!" Baron Helmut Zemo shouted towards three Hydra soldiers, who all stood there with assault rifles in their hands.

"Agents Eric Williams and Arthur Light failed to secure the equipment from the S.T.A.R Labs facility. The Vanguard, including the revived Captain America, intervened. Williams, Light, and the soldiers they took with them are now in the custody of the NYPD."

Baron Zemo felt the purple mask on his face and groaned. "You realize the boss won't be pleased in the slightest, yes?"

"…Of course, Mr. Zemo." The soldier replied.

"I'll be the one to break the news to him."

And with that, Zemo left the soldiers and walked through the forest green walls of their base. He had on a purple mask with pupiless white eyes, and he had a much more muted shade of purple for his uniform. He also wore yellow gloves and boots, and had a little yellow on the top of his mask. He let out a deep sigh, not looking forward to delivering the news to the boss.

After walking his way through the hallway, he entered a very spacious room, colored that same shade of green. It was a room with machinery all around it, and standing opposite Zemo, on the other side of the room, as a gigantic red throne, with a man on its seat looking at the many monitors in the room.

That man was Krieger, and he looked exactly the same as he did during World War II.

"Baron Helmut Zemo! What brings you here?!" Krieger said, with Zemo being surprised that the boss noticed him already.

"I'm afraid to be the bearer of bad news, Mister Krieger."

Krieger stood up from his throne and approached Zemo with a scowl on his face. "I already know about the failure of Light and Reaper. It's on most of the American news stations."

Zemo nodded. "Right. Of course. I believe we severely overestimated Doctor Light's capabilities in combat. He wasn't a match for Superman like he thought he could be."

"A foolish mistake, indeed!" Krieger shouted. He took a long look at one of the gigantic monitors in the room, and yelled in rage as he flew up to it and smashed it with his fist.

"Those monitors aren't cheap…" Zemo muttered under his breath as Krieger flew back down to the ground.

"The loss of Reaper and Light is but insignificant trivia compared the fact that the world is now aware that Hydra is alive and well! That damned Vanguard just broke the news! We have more than enough manpower to replace those two, but this….this brings unbearable complications to our plans"

Zemo just nodded on as Krieger ranted, having figured out all of this for himself. "It does mean we'll have to be more careful going forward. Well, even more careful than we already were, of course."

Krieger circled around Zemo with a frustrated look on his face. Zemo could only ponder what his boss was thinking, though it couldn't have been good.

"You don't think I already know we have to be more careful, Zemo?! Of course we do! No shit! …However, you _can_ be useful and tell me something I don't know. How is Baron Strucker doing with the experiments?"

"He is doing just fine with them, Krieger. The two pairs of twins are getting closer and closer to compliance every day. Drew and Dibny aren't quite there yet, but they also haven't been captives as long. Give them time, and they'll eventually hail Hydra."

Krieger smiled sinisterly. "I want them all bowing before Hydra as soon as possible, but it's good to hear that they are on the right track. How about Dr. Zeul? How is her growth formula coming along?"

Zemo raised his finger up. "She just finalized it this morning, actually. She is now able to grow to 100 feet tall."

Krieger chuckled. "As if she wasn't already tall enough. But that is all I want to know for now. You may leave."

"Of course. Hail Hydra." Zemo replied with before leaving Krieger to exit the room, only to stop just short of the entrance. "But…may I ask how you feel about the return of Captain America."

Krieger took a moment and laughed. "I knew from the moment they formed that the Vanguard would be even more of a threat to us than S.H.I.E.L.D, but to see Captain America in their ranks makes it more…interesting. If we can ever capture him, I want him brought before me."

Zemo nodded. "Absolutely, Krieger. My grandfather must be avenged."

"Worry not, Baron Zemo. Captain America, and the other surviving members of the Liberty Brigade, will pay for their devastating attack that killed Heinrich. Now go."

Zemo finally departed off into the hallway, leaving Krieger alone to ponder in his thoughts.


	6. Invasion From Atlantis

The entire Vanguard was sitting at the Vanguard Tower roundtable, sans Superman, who stood at the front of the table and opposite a gigantic monitor that stood at the very end of the room. From his left, they were seated in this order: Iron Man, Batman, Thor, Wonder Woman, Black Panther, Aquaman, Hank, Wasp, Zatanna, Banner, Martian Manhunter, Carol, Hal, Barry, and Captain America. Superman looked around at his teammates as he readied himself to speak.

"To start things off, I'd like to welcome Steve Rogers to his first Vanguard meeting." He had his right arm in the direction of Cap, who just sat there and smiled.

Superman sat down and move his placed his hands on the table. "So, as I hope you've all heard by now, Hydra survived the end of World War II, and is still active as we speak. 16 scientists were killed during their break-in of the local S.T.A.R. Labs, and I would prefer to minimize their body count, no matter how much sweat we have to put into doing so."

"I've been scouring and hacking through the Internet as much as I can, along with the Bruces." Iron Man piped in, raising his hand up as he did so. "But we've found…less than we would prefer…"

"It's clear that Hydra has adapted well to the age of the Internet." Batman added on. "They've figured out how to work around it. But even taking the Deep Web into account, the Internet is only so big. There has to be _some_ info on modern Hydra."

Cap looked at Batman with confusion on his face. "The…the Deep Web."

"Areas of the Internet that are not accessible through Google, or Bing, or any other standard search engine." Batman replied.

"How exactly does that work?" Cap asked back, intertwining his fingers.

Batman let out an 'hmm'. "We'll tell you later. Best not to get off-track."

Aquaman cleared his throat. "So have the interrogations towards Light, Reaper, or any of the other soldiers gotten us any information?"

"Not yet." Superman replied, before sighing. "They are stubbornly loyal to Hydra. No one – not us, not the US Government, not S.H.I.E.L.D., no one – has gotten anything from them. We don't know the headquarters or the full power of Hydra."

"So." Iron Man piped in, raising his finger as he did so. "For all we know, they could be at the bottom of Antartica, with robots and the actual Hydra monster guarding their base."

"That's…highly unlikely," Wonder Woman replied, with her eyebrow up. "Leraean Hydra has not popped up since it was slain by Hercules long ago."

Banner began stuttering and struggling to form words for a moment before finally speaking. "Hercules? But…but you're with the Greek pantheon and all that, and I swore on my life Hercules was the Roman name."

"It is. Heracles took the Roman name to distance himself from Hera. But Stark, I do get what you're trying to say."

Hal finally broke his silence. "We should take into account that there might not be anything on modern Hydra on the Internet. And -"

"Damnit, Hal, don't be stupid! There's gonna be _something_ about them!" Hank shouted, causing Superman to press on his nose.

"First off all, don't insult my intelligence! And secondly, can I not finish?!"

Both stood up, with Hank pointing at Hal. "Well, maybe you should your brain for once!"

"Oh, here you go again, acting as if you're just so much better than me!"

"I swear to God, Hal, I just want to –"

"Enough!" Superman shouted, while Wasp tried to calm Hank down and Carol and Barry tried to get Hal cool and collected again. Black Panther shook his head while Zatanna sighed. "We will we dealing with you two very soon." Superman said in a very stern voice.

Hank grumbled while Hal stared at the table for a moment before speaking. " _As I was saying_ , there might be nothing about them on the Web, and also, we can't just take S.H.I.E.L.D's word that they haven't gotten anything. Danvers and I met Nick Fury once – he was coming to Ferris Air for some matters that Ferris couldn't tell us about. He is a dirty son of a bitch, and I'm pretty sure torture isn't beneath him."

Iron Man interjected and pointed towards Hal. "First of all, damn you for summing up Fury so beautifully." He then turned over to face Superman. "But second of all, Hal's right. The NSA has nothing on those bastards over at S.H.I.E.L.D. I guarantee you that Fury is having an Hydra agent, or someone else, being tortured at this very second. Worry not, though. They're no match for the genius minds we have here, including my own. We'll hack through their files, no problem."

Superman nodded. "I understand. But tread carefully. And I want everyone here to understand that hunting and taking down Hydra will be a top priority for the Vanguard. I know and respect that you all have lives, but if there's any time you can use to finding anything on Hydra, I ask that you take it. We need to –"

Superman was interrupted when an alarm began to go off. *INTRUDER ALERT, INTRUDER ALERT* *UNIDENTIFED PERSONEL ON VANGUARD PROPERTY* *INTRUDER ALERT, INTRUDER ALERT*

"Oh, what the hell?" Pym grumbled.

Batman walked up to the monitor and pulled up their camera footage – and it was there that they found a redheaded woman clad entirely in a green-scaled outfit, banging on the Tower's walls.

"It's only a lone woman." Batman then pressed a button, and now they could hear the audio coming from the footage, and she was not speaking English. She was speaking a language that left Superman baffled, as it was unlike any he had heard before.

"She speaks the Atlantean tongue!" Aquaman interjected, standing up as he did so.

Superman turned around and looked at Aquaman. "Aquaman, Thor, Tony, you're with me! The rest of you stay put unless anything happens!"

Superman, Thor, and Iron Man all flew out of the meeting room, with Superman carrying Aquaman along to speed things up. It was only about a minute before they were able to reach the teleporter at their speeds, and they all hopped on and teleported out of the tower.

They teleported right near the lady, who stopped banging on the walls and looked at the four Vanguardians with a frustrated look on her face.

"Who are you? Why have you come here?" Aquaman asked, walking up to her and speaking Atlantean.

"I…I am Mera. And I have come all the way from Atlantis to enlist the aid of the Vanguard of Justice."

Aquaman looked at Superman, Thor, and Iron Man for a moment before looking back at Mera. "You came from Atlantis. What…what has brought you here?!"

"King Attuma and Prince Orm are about to launch a full-scale invasion of the surface world. We must act now, before their army arrives!"

Then Superman could suddenly hear the screams and pleas of thousands of civilians from the nearby bay, as well as water flooding into the city. He grunted, feeling distressed at the sound of innocents being harmed or worse.

"Superman, I'm getting CCTV footage of what looks like a…full-on army invading New York from the bay." Iron Man piped in.

"That's what Mera warned me about! That Atlantis itself will invade the surface world!" Aquaman added on.

Superman stood silent for a moment before speaking. "…They've already invaded." He then held his hand up towards his ear comm. "Everyone, get to the bay, now! This emergency requires the entire Vanguard!"

* * *

Several feet of water covered the streets as a redheaded woman and her 10 year-old son ran like hell. Men in dark green armor stormed the streets of Manhattan, impaling and bashing everyone in sight. She held her son's hand with an iron grip and didn't look back. She only ran. But then four of the men surrounded the two, and the woman held her son in her arms while gasping and screaming. The men looked to have four yellow eyes under those helmets, and they had what appeared to be arm cannons, with which they readied themselves to blast the woman and the son.

But then the men attention was taken when they saw flying ants crawling swarming around them. The woman and her son looked in confusion as countless ants began to surround them and swarm all over them. The men tried to get the ants off them, but there were too many. Then the ants got up into their helmets, and the men were now screaming as they ran amok, still trying to get all of the ants off of them.

Then Hank appeared, flying on the same ant, and jumped onto the shoulder of one of the four men. He gave the man an uppercut and, with the strength he gained when shrunken, the soldier was knocked out. He jumped onto another flying ant and gave another soldier an uppercut, knocking him out as well. He did the same with the third soldier before the final one tried to grab Hank. He just barely dodged and jumped onto the arm of the soldier. He ran up as fast as he could. The soldier tried to smack him, but Hank jumped out of the way and landed onto the soldier's shoulder. He punched the soldier in the face three times, knocking him out.

The woman and her son then found themselves encased in a green bubble, and looked up to see Hal, who flew them away while Hank got back onto a flying ant and flew off in search for more civilians.

"We got any ideas on why Atlantis is invading?" Hank said into his ear comm.

* _Well, let's ask the Atlantean on the team._ * Iron Man replied through the ear comm.

* _How the hell should I know?!_ * Aquaman said in a surprised tone.

Hank flew passed Mera, who decked a soldier in the face and bashed another into a building wall. He was impressed, but he had to turn his attention towards Aquaman, who took two of the soldiers and bashed their heads together, knocking them both out.

"I haven't been in Atlantis since I was 10!" He cried out as he decked another soldier in the face.

* _Well, that's just great._ * Hal said into the comm.

Aquaman sighed. "I wish I had more answers, Jordan."

A soldier blasted Aquaman in the shoulder with the arm gun, causing Aquaman to grunt, then let out a war cry as he charged towards the soldier.

He was soon joined by Cap, who deflected a blast with his shield and bashing that soldier until he was knocked out, and then two more soldiers cornered Cap into the wall. He felt nothing but complete bafflement when one of the soldiers hammered the other in the face, before grabbing him by the shoulders and headbutting him. Then the soldier morphed into the Martian Manhunter, and now Cap was completely and utterly confused.

' _What….what….huh?_ ' Cap thought to himself as Manhunter made eye contact with him.

' _I have the ability to shapeshift, Captain._ ' Manhunter replied into Cap's mind, which for Cap just raised whole other questions. '… _Sorry for reading into your mind._ '

' _I-I didn't even know you could do that, either. Interesting._ ' Cap replied, before the two headed out to combat the Atlanteans.

Barry zoomed through the waters of New York, knocking out as many of the soldiers as he could, while Hal, Carol, Thor, and Wonder Woman all took to the skies. They stared at the surrounding ocean, and saw a dozen gigantic crustacean monsters that Iron Man had spoken of, all behemoths that stood about 200 feet tall.

"Stark, when you said these crabs were big, I didn't realize you meant the kaiju-sized." Carol said into the comm as the monsters approached Manhattan.

"That just makes it all the more fun!" Thor said with a grin on his face, to which Carol simply stared at the god.

The four flew towards the crab monsters as they drew closer and closer to the mainland. Hal created an enormous amount of gigantic knives and lunged them all towards two of the crustacean beasts, slicing them into bits. He was forced to dodge blasts coming from the Altantean soldiers down below, and he smirked before creating a gigantic fly swatter and smacking seven of the soldiers down.

He saw Carol blasting towards one of the monsters until it collapsed into the ocean. One of the other crustacean goliaths screeched in her direction, and Hal and Carol looked at each other before flying towards it. Carol projected her energy blasts towards the crustacean's neck, causing it to scream in pain while Hal blasted missiles at it with his ring.

"Look alive, Hal!" Carol said as the crab tried to swipe him with his claws, with Hal just barely dodging.

"Oh, just you wait." Hal replied, before creating a giant hammer and pummeling the creature's back with it. He bashed at the creature with his hammer while Carol blasted at it, and together they overwhelmed the crustacean until it finally collapsed into the sea.

"See, Hal. You can do great when you actually put some imagination into it." Carol wryly shot towards Hal, who just shook his head before following her to combat more of the crustaceans.

Wonder Woman flew towards three of the crabs at super speed and decapitated all of them with her sword, watching as the water got soaked in the blood of their severed heads. The skies began to darken, and lighting and thunder roared through the skies as Thor swung his hammer around until he aimed it towards four of the beasts – and with that, lightning struck them all, sending the four crustaceans down to the ground.

Then the Batplane and Black Panther's jet soared through the sky, and while Hal and Carol were combating one of the remaining crab monsters, Batman shot at it with the missiles on his Batplane many times until the creature was finally overwhelmed and collapsed, with Black Panther doing the same to the last crustacean.

"It's been so long such I've been able to face such beasts!" Thor exclaimed as he flew towards Wonder Woman, who had a stern look on her face.

"Well, now that they've all been taken care of, we have to head back to New York and aid the rest of the Vanguard!" She said, before the two flew off with Hal, Carol, Batman, and Black Panther, back to Manhattan.

There, Superman was super speeding around New York as more of the city began to flood, trying to get all the citizens he could get to off the flooded streets and up on the rooftops where water wouldn't get to them.

Wasp was with Iron Man and Zatanna, the latter two blasting away as many of the soldiers as they could while Zatanna moved her wand around. "Taeh rieht snopaew!" She commanded, and the arm guns of the nearby soldiers began to heat up considerably. Iron Man and Wasp used this to their advantage and blasted at all the soldiers, knocking them all out. But one of them smacked Wasp before collapsing, and Zatanna only barely grabbed her insect-sized ally before she fell into the waters.

Iron Man looked around, and saw Cap, Manhunter, and Aquaman all combating the Atlantean soldiers. They had made progress and the opposition was dwindling siginifcantly, but there were a few more soldiers coming out from the bay, and he could see it, so he headed west to combat the arriving forces.

Cap and Aquaman both bashed around the soldiers, with Cap throwing his shield towards one, with Aquaman using the soldier's distraction to bash him into the nearby street pole. Cap's shield bounced off the street pole and came right towards him. Their attention was taken, however, when a figure jumped onto one of the cars that had been flooded. This figure was clad in a purple scaled torso not unlike Aquaman's orange scales, and he had black pants and chest armor, as well as a black mask with grey fish fins at the top and on the sides.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't my dear brother, Orin." The figure said. Cap could not understand the figure, but Aquaman could – and he knew right away who it was.

"Orm!" He shouted, truly surprised to see his brother.

With the silver trident he wielded in his hand, Orm bashed Aquaman in the face. Cap charged towards him, attempting to strike, but Orm grabbed him by his chest and threw him a few feet away, into the waters.

"What was it like, brother? To live peacefully with our father, while I was cast aside and left behind?!" Orm shouted angrily, bashing Aquaman in the chest.

"Father thought Attuma killed you and mother both when he seized the palace. We both did! We're sorry!"

Aquaman tried to deck Orm in the face, but he dodged and punched Aquaman in the chest. "Attuma spared me, raised me…and showed me the true horrors of our father!"

Manhunter spotted Orm and Aquaman and tried to fly towards the two, only to get distracted by soldiers blasting towards him. Cap got up from the water and tried to head towards the two, but then he noticed Mera charging her way towards the princes.

She jumped onto the car that Orm had made his entrance on and bashed the back of his head, causing him to grunt loudly as he was sent down into the waters.

Orm quickly got up and kicked Mera in the chest while deflecting a punch from Aquaman. "Mera!" Orm cried out as she got up. "You have wasted your time coming to the surface world. You are but a nuisance!"

Then he saw a speedster running around the streets before decking him in the face twice. Aquaman and Cap both assumed it was Barry at first, but then it turned out to be Jay. And levitating in the skies above were Alan and Namor, the latter locking his eyes completely towards Orm.

"Son...is that really you?" Namor asked in Atlantean, having a mixed look of rage and confusion on his face.

Aquaman and 'Mera' could only watch as Orm looked up at his father and grinned sinisterly, wondering what had to be going through their father's mind. "It is me, father. And it's time Attuma and I finally finished the job."


	7. Invasion of Atlantis

**I apologize for the huge delay. My laptop was away from me for a few weeks, and by the time it came back, I got swamped with college work, so I didn't have much time to make the final touches onto this chapter. But I have now, so enjoy.**

* * *

Namor simply levitated and stared at his son, unsure of what to say.

It was Orm who spoke up, glaring at his father. "You left me for dead, father! You took Orin, and you left me for dead!"

"I thought you _were_ dead!" Namor yelled back, lowering down until he was only a few feet above Orm. "I would have never left my own son under the rule of Attuma!"

"Lies! King Attuma told me all about how you loved Orin more! How you only feigned your love for me, because you were a sociopath who only cared about power."

With his trident, Orm shout out lighting towards Namor, who was forced to try and dodge the blasts. Namor, Aquaman, and Mera all charged towards Orm while Cap, Alan, and Jay became distracted by the remaining Atlantean soldiers.

Aquaman, Namor, and Mera together were enough to overwhelm Orm, and he was forced through several jabs and kicks without being able to hit back. But when he finally got a free second, he pointed his trident towards the three and shot lightning towards them once more.

As the waters rose by six inches, Mera gritted her teeth, and Aquaman and Namor watched in shock as it looked like Mera rose chunks of water out from the ground, and formed them into six balls, shooting them all towards Orm, though two missed.

Namor looked exasperated. "You have hydrokinesis? Why are you only now doing this?!"

Mera sighed. "Don't have much experience with these powers."

Orm quickly got up, and held his trident up into the sky, to which the skies now turned even darker than they already were. He shot down lighting towards all three of them, sending them down to the watery ground.

As Namor went and got up, Orm bashed him in the back with his trident, before turning him around and grabbing him angrily.

"Before I take you to King Attuma, I want you to know, father, that he told me just how weak and uncaring you really were. If only Orin knew the ugly truth."

"There is no ugly truth here, son! Attuma messed with your mind! He lied to you!"

Orm yelled in rage and threw Namor towards the car. "King Attuma said you'd try to deny it! You know, I never wanted to believe Attuma's stories about you. But eventually, I forced myself to accept the truth. On the bright side, it makes it easier to kick your ass."

Orm sighed. "Long live King Attuma!" He yelled, the hurt in his voice all too apparent.

"Son, I -"

"Save it, father!" Orm shouted as Aquaman and Mera both got up. "…I used to dream of seeing you again, with you proving Attuma's stories wrong. Those were good dreams…but I've given up on them. I just want to kick your ass, you damned piece of shit!"

Aquaman and Mera both charged towards Orm, but he turned around and bashed them both with his trident.

Orm snarled. "You! You scumbag! All these years, and you still follow father? You are a damned idiot."

Aquaman felt his cheek and looked at his brother with concern on his face. "Listen to us, Orm! Attuma deceived you! This idea that father hated you…it's not true! You have to listen to us!"

Orm shot a death glare towards Aquaman. "Why should I?"

He darted towards Aquaman with his trident, but Mera shot more water missiles towards Orm, causing him to be lunged towards a nearby car.

"Getting better at this…" Mera muttered to herself.

Orm narrowed his eyes. "You will all be brought before King Attuma!"

He held his trident up, only to be shot at with lighting. Namor, Aquaman, and Mera all looked up to see Thor in the skies, shooting the lighting towards Orm with his hammer. He ceased, and Orm looked at Thor for a second before pointing his trident towards the god and blasting lighting towards him, to which Thor blasted lighting back with Mjolnir.

The two both gritted their teeth and grunted as their lightning collided with each other. Both tried to push their lightning against the other's, with Orm yelling as he briefly gained the upper hand. But then Thor let out a war cry and pushed all of his lighting towards Orm, sending him down to the ground.

Thor levitated down to the ground as Namor, Aquaman, and Mera watched on. Orm laid there in the water, unconscious.

Hal, Carol, and Wonder Woman all flew down and were next to Thor, while Barry and Jay super-sped towards the scene together.

"…Is that the guy behind it all?" Barry asked as he started at Orm's unconscious body.

"No," Namor replied. "Orm here was only acting on behalf of King Attuma, who from the looks of it, is still in Atlantis."

"Ah," Barry replied, rubbing his neck. "Speaking of which, what's Orm's deal?"

Namor looked down to the ground. "He's my son. And Attuma twisted his mind."

Barry stood there, an awkward silence in the air. "…I'm sorry."

"Don't waste your efforts on apologizing, Barry. It won't bring my son back to me."

Before Barry could reply, Superman's voice came through all the Vanguardian's ear comms. * _It looks like the Atlantean army has been completely cleared of_ *.

*We've got the leader of the invasion unconscious here by Union Square Park* Carol replied through the ear comm.

* _Great. On my way. Everyone, regroup by Union Square Park!_ *

Alan showed up as Superman said that, standing next to Barry and Jay. J'onn and Cap quickly showed up as well, and Superman zoomed towards the group as fast as he could. They waited as Iron Man, Batman, Black Panther, Hulk, Zatanna, Hank and Wasp all arrived, with Batman and Black Panther having to get out of their jets, and now the entire Vanguard was together, along with Jay, Alan, Namor, and Mera.

"So…what's the plan now?" Wasp asked as she flew around her comrades.

Mera looked at Aquaman and Namor and began speaking Atlantean to them. The three discussed in Atlantean for a minute before Aquaman and Namor looked back to the rest of the group.

"Mera here says that it's best that we all head to Altantis." Aquaman said to everyone, making motions with his hands. "New York was intended to be the start. But we have a chance to strike at Atlantis before they ready up the rest of their forces. Mera stressed that _all_ of us must come. Our combined strength is the best bet at overthrowing Attuma."

Wasp gasped. "Wait, we're going to _the actual_ Atlantis? Like, the real place?! HOLY SHIT!"

"Yeah, that is pretty awesome…" Barry said with a smile on his face. "…But some of us don't have the powers or technology to survive underwater."

Hal created a miniature sphere with his ring. "Well, Alan and I can bring everyone to Atlantis in giant air bubbles."

"Won't be necessary," Batman interjected. "I got a backup Batsub over at the Vanguard Tower."

Though it was partly covered up by his helmet, Hank gave Batman a deadpan look. " _Bat_ sub? Really?"

Iron Man sighed. "Don't question him on it, Hank. Trust me. Just don't."

Batman paused for a moment before speaking back up. "Just remember this: Nothing in that sub was cheap. I _better not_ see so much as a single dent from any of you."

Hal chuckled. "Well, Bruce, what are you gonna –"

But Barry put his hand on his shoulder before Hal could finish. "Don't, Hal."

Everyone stood silent as Namor translated all of this to Mera, who had just been standing there confused. After Namor translated everything, Mera just looked at him for a moment before nodding.

"It works just fine." He said to everyone.

"Well, wait a minute." Black Panther interjected, raising his finger up. "What about the civilians? The relief aids will almost certainly need us."

Superman nodded. "I got all of that covered, T'Challa. I super-sped everyone in the flooded areas to safety."

"That is good." Namor said, nodding. "We need to get to Atlantis as soon as possible. All of us."

Jay adjusted his helmet and whispered to Alan, "Been what, 30 years since we've been to Atlantis?"

"32 years, Jay."

Orm groaned as he woke up, and Mera kicked him in the chest and grabbed him by the neck, only for Namor to turn her by her shoulder and yell in Atlantean while everyone just watched. Mera looked at Namor, and then at Orm, before kicking him in the chest again. She spoke to Namor in Atlantean while everyone still watched, some of them feeling a bit awkward.

After about a minute, they looked back at everyone else. "We gotta get Orm tied down," Namor said. "And we have to get to Atlantis. Now!"

* * *

Aquaman, Namor, and Mera swam down into the dark oceans below without any problem. Superman, Thor, Wonder Woman, Manhunter, Carol, and Iron Man also swam down with them, though Iron Man had to get on a special suit while at the Vanguard Tower, one that could withstand the immense pressures of the ocean. Alan and Hal had circular shields around them, to protect them from the intensifying pressure. And Jay and the rest of the Vanguard were in the Batsub.

Everyone followed the Atlanteans as they made their way down into the ocean, in search of Atlantis.

Batman was piloting his sub while everyone else stood around, with Jay, Barry, and Cap watching a strapped down Orm at the back of the sub. It was pure chrome walls in the sub, not unlike that of the Vanguard Tower walls. Jay and Barry stood there, watching over Orm. He squirmed, but the metal bars across his body prevented him from getting up.

"Namor and Alan had it rough as parents…" Jay said, looking down at the ground.

Barry looked at Jay and raised an eyebrow. "Alan was a parent?"

"Yeah. He had twins in the early eighties. But their mother was psychotic, so he was forced to give them away, to protect them. But then they disappeared recently, and we haven't been able to locate them anywhere."

"Oh…" Barry replied, feeling awkward. "I'm sorry to hear that."

"And then…well, you've already figured out Namor's situation." There was a brief moment of silence before Jay paused. "It makes me wonder. Joan and I…we could never have kids. When the doctor broke news, we were devastated. It was one of the worst days of our life. But then Alan and Namor had kids…and then all of this happened…and I wonder what would've happened with me. Would I have gone through anything like they had to suffer through?"

"I…I…" Barry was slow to respond, unsure of how to reply to Jay. "…Well, I know for a fact that you would've been of the best fathers a son could ever have."

Jay chuckled. "Thanks, Barry. Part of me still wishes I could've been a parent, but after seeing what Alan and Namor had to go through…I don't know. I just don't know."

Cap, who had been sitting down in a chair, got up and walked up to the Flashes. "Shortly before our final assault on HYDRA, Peggy and I discussed whether or not we had kids. …Of course, that never happened. I saw that she never had kids…makes me wonder if I still should…"

Jay let out an 'hmm'. "I think she would've wanted you to not be stuck on her, like she was with you. She would've wanted you to be better."

"…Right…"

Orm began to yell at the three of them; since he spoke the Altantean tongue, they could not understand them, but they did understand that he was a combination of angry…and afraid.

"Huh…that tone…" Jay cupped his chin. "What could be afraid of?"

Before they could ponder that matter further, Hank, Wasp, and Zatanna all walked in.

"How are you doing, boys?" Zatanna asked while looking at Orm.

"Fine, fine." Barry answered.

"I still can't believe we're actually going to Atlantis!" Wasp yelled in excitement.

Hank let out a sigh. "You've mentioned how excited you are like ten times, Janet."

"Well, come on, Hank! _Atlantis!_ "

"It is pretty exciting." Zatanna added on.

Then all of a sudden, they heard a roar.

"…What was that?" Zatanna asked.

There was another roar, this one louder.

Everyone looked at each other with confused looks on their faces. The confusion only worsened when Orm began to chuckle.

There was another roar, this one higher in pitch. Then there were two roars at once, with both the deeper and the higher pitched roars echoing into the sub. Everyone's eyes widened as to what ths could mean.

Outside of the sub, everyone was just as confused, except for Namor, Aquaman, and Mera, who all looked horrified.

"That…is that…" Aquaman struggled to say as a daunted expression colored itself onto him.

"It must be them." Namor said, looking just as daunted as his son.

Two black figures could be seen in the distance, one to the left of the Vanguard and their allies, and one to the right. As they got closer and closer, it soon became clear what they looked like. One was a beast colored a forest green. It had to be several hundred feet long, and it had eight gigantic tentacles. The other was a monster the size of a blue whale. This monster looked like a gigantic, dark grey fish man, with neon purple all around it. The latter creature let out another high-pitched roar.

Superman tapped Hal's shoulder and motion for him to increase the size of his circular shield. Hal did so and now his shield guarded everyone, including the Batsub. Alan took it a step further and created a giant fortress around them all as the monsters tried to approach the group.

"Okay, I can talk now. So….where did those monsters come from!" Superman asked, looking at Aquaman and Namor.

"Back when I was king, I used those monsters to guard Atlantis from surface dwellers. Looks like Attuma actually kept one of my ideas." Namor answered.

"Well, what are we going to do about them?!" Carol shouted out in response.

"Some of us are going to have to stay behind and fight them while the rest of us travel to Atlantis!" Wonder Woman pointed out.

Then Batman's voice came over the ear comm. *Most of our powerhouses should stay behind to fight the beasts off, and then come back to help us fight the Atlanteans*

"I can help fight them off!" Alan exclaimed in response.

"Atlantis will also be guarded by a dome. However, we cannot just pass by the monsters – they will destroy the dome, and Atlantis, just to get to us. We'll need Superman or Thor to break the dome open so some of us can get in while the rest fight off the monsters. It'll be the quickest way in." Namor added on.

Superman paused for a moment before speaking up. "Alright then. Alan, Wonder Woman, Manhunter, Iron Man, Thor, Carol, Hal, all of you stay behind and fight the monsters. I'll you once I get the dome open!"

A tentacle burst through the fortress as both creatures roared. The fortress disappeared, and Hal's shield vanished so that Namor, Aquaman, Mera, and everyone in the Batsub could get down to Altantis.

Aquaman took a moment and looked back as several of his comrades began to fight off the beasts. But he looked back straight, and he could see it now. He could see Atlantis.

With a circular dome around it, Altantis was finally in sight. However, many of the golden buildings had a more decayed look to them than he remembered, something he quickly chalked to Attuma. Superman's eyes heated up and he punched the dome's glass several times until the dome broke open, allowing the Atlanteans and the Batsub to get into the city. He left to join the others in fighting the sea monsters.

The Atlanteans all swam as fast as they could through the city, and now they and those in the Batsub could see people down in the city looking up at them with confusion. Many of them looked starved and afraid, and some of them began to collapse onto the streets. More than a few, actually. And they all looked at the Batub with eyes the size of dinner plates, as if they were afraid that this was some contraption created to pass down judgement upon them. Some even peered out of the windows of the buildings, looking just as horrified. There was no battle going on at the moment, but these people looked like they were in a war zone, and they looked fearful for their lives.

"My God…." Was all Cap could say.

Even Batman seemed bothered by the sight of the decaying city, though he said nothing about it.

Namor and Aquaman stopped in their tracks and took a moment to look around. "…He's brought the city to ruin, father. He has reduced Atlantis to a shell of its former self."

Namor hang his head in shame. "I know, son. I can hardly believe it myself. We must overthrow Attuma now! We must prevent this from getting any worse!"

"I hear you. Get to the palace!" Aquaman said, his finger on the ear comm so his teammates could hear. "Attuma will be there, and you'll all be able to breathe in there."

In about a minute or so, they saw a grand palace, one that looked to be in much more pristine shape than the rest of the city. Aquaman and Namor looked around and saw denziens collapsing to the streets, looking greatly frail. They then looked at each other, concerned.

They and Mera swam down towards the doors of the palace, and opened them up. They had them open long enough for the Batsub to get in, and once it was in, they sealed the doors.

Everyone in the Batsub got out, and they were greeted by a golden interior, with statues of Atlantean kings and queens throughout the hallway. There were several windows, from which they could the ocean that lied ahead.

Their attention was taken, however, when they saw soldiers, of both blue and pink skin, charging towards them. And there was a man with a golden trident and long black hair leading them, stopping when they were but a few feet away.

"Well, well, well….Namor and Orin. You've finally come back." The man said, grinning.

Namor narrowed his eyes. "Your reign over my kingdom ends _now_ , Attuma!"

To that, Attuma only smirked.


	8. Throne of Altantis

"I'm really quite torn about this." Attuma lamented as Namor, Aquaman, and everyone else watched on. "On the one hand, it'll be nice to tear you limb from limb, Namor. But you being here, with your comrades. Well…it means that Orm failed. What a disappointment he turned out to be."

Namor's fist began to shake. "You corrupted him. You slayed Namora and Atlanna, and you corrupted my son, you son of a bitch!"

Attuma shook his head. "I merely tried to raise him to be a worthy heir to the throne. Guess I failed in that regard."

While all of this was going on, everyone else on both sides just watched and waited for things to tense up.

Barry tapped Cap's shoulder. "I really wish I could understand what they were saying." Barry whispered.

Cap nodded. "So do I, Barry."

"Why are you invading the surface world, Attuma?!" Aquaman demanded to know, pointing his finger towards the blue-skinned king.

"It's quite simple, Orin." Attuma replied, approaching the two closer. "It's very clear that the human scumbags are well on their way to destroying themselves, and taking the rest of the planet with them! They must be wiped out!"

"This is not the way to do it!" Aquaman shouted back.

Attuma sighed. "There is no other way. Soldiers, attack!"

He pointed towards the group, and the scores of soldiers began to charge towards the group.

Mera created more water missiles and fired them towards several of the soldiers while Batman and Black Panther punched and kicked several of them around. One soldier tried to sneak up on the Dark Knight, but he noticed the soldier just in time and knocked him out with a clean punch to the face.

Attuma gritted his teeth towards Mera. "You Xebellian piece of trash! I'll have you executed for this!"

Mera smirked. "You don't have this authority, false king. That will be clear soon enough."

The Flashes super sped around and knocked out as many of the soldiers as they could, and Wasp shrank back and began blasting at them. Hank, with no ants to control, merely shrank in the size and began running up the arm of a soldier, jumping off his shoulder and punching him in the face. With his super strength, the soldier fell to the ground.

Meanwhile, Aquaman tried to punch Attuma in the face, but Attuma dodged at speeds the prince could not keep up with, and he decked Aquaman from behind. Namor jumped up and attempted to tackle Attuma, but his efforts proved just as futile as Attuma dodged, then grabbed him and threw him towards Aquaman.

"I see you've become rusty over the years, Namor!" Attuma taunted as Namor and his son both tried to get up. "And your son…his fighting his pathetic!"

Namor wiped his mouth and charged towards Attuma, but the king bashed both him and Aquaman with his trident, while grinning.

"You can never reclaim Atlantis…"

Just then, Aquaman kicked Attuma in the back, and he and Namor both began decking and kicking Attuma around several times before soldiers took notice and tried to fight off the former king and his son, only to get knocked around, with Aquaman bashing a soldier's head into the wall a few times.

Suddenly, a scowl appeared upon Attuma's face. "Open the doors! Open the damn doors already!"

One of the soldiers opened the gate to the palace, and heaps and tons of ocean water began flooding into the palace, with the surface dwellers' eyes widening at the sight.

"No! NO!" Aquaman shouted, thinking about how likely his friends were to drown as overwhelming amounts of water began to force its way into the palace grounds.

"Good luck to your friends, Orin!" Attuma shouted, before grabbing him by his shirt and throwing him towards the wall.

Aquaman and Namor could not try to fight Attuma anymore. They had to focus on rescuing their friends, before all of them drowned. They looked at each other, and as Attuma swam towards them, they had to dodge him. They were going to have to try and avoid him and his army if it meant rescuing their friends.

* * *

Carol wanted her mouth to agape at the sight of the two beasts which were now charging towards the group, but she knew she couldn't let that happen.

' _Alright, everyone. I've established a telepathic link between our minds. We'll all be able to communicate with each other now._ ' Manhunter stated as he swam towards Carol.

Superman felt slightly mixed on the issue. Speaking through telepathy wasn't something he was particularly excited for, but it was a necessity, as since they weren't Atlantean, they could not talk underwater.

The Kraken swung one of its tentacles towards the group, but Superman heatvisioned the tentacle away. ' _More of our focus should go towards facing the Kraken!_ ' Superman stated as he swam around the behemoth of a beast.

' _Well, we can't just ignore the other beast!_ ' Thor pointed out as he bashed said beast with Mjlonir. He was currently not able to summon lightning at the moment due to being underwater.

' _I know, I know!_ ' Superman replied as he was forced to dodge one of the Kraken' mighty tentacles before it struck him down to the ground.

Hal took a look at Thor's hammer for a moment before constructing up his own hammer and bashing three of the Kraken's tentacles with, while trying to avoid grunting and yelling due to being underwater. Alan saw this and shook his head.

' _Damnit, Jordan! You think you can fight off the Kraken with just that hammer?!'_ Alan telepathically yelled.

Hal looked at Alan with a glare on his face. ' _You got anything better?!_ '

Alan nodded, and created two dozen 10-foot long eels that all hissed and swam around the Kraken at speeds that could rival the Flashes. Both beasts roared in confusion, and Superman saw Alan use the opportunity to fly directly towards the Kraken's face and fire at it with a machine gun.

' _You gotta think strategically, Hal. Use your abilities with intelligence._ '

The only reason Hal did not grit his teeth in anger was because he knew water would just fly in his mouth, and he was too mad to create a shield. ' _With intelligence?! Alan, you should've seen me fighting giant crab monsters earlier! Do you really think I'm just –_ '

' _Hal, not now!_ ' Carol yelled as she swam towards Hal. ' _Focus on the battle at hand_.'

Hal mentally sighed and used the Kraken's distraction to his advantage by creating a twenty foot long sword and stabbing the Kraken with it. Purple blood began to stain the ocean waters, but the Kraken had only been slowed down. Hal stabbed at the beast again while Iron Man and Carol took to blasting at the Kraken.

Meanwhile, the other beast grabbed hold of Manhunter, but he did not squirm or struggle in the slightest. All he did was phase himself out of the beast's hand and swim towards the behemoth as fast as he could, delivering a punch to the stomach.

' _Jonny boy, it's gonna take more than a punch to the stomach to take that thing done._ ' Iron Man stated in a deadpan tone.

' _I know, Stark. But this should get him riled up._ '

Iron Man stood silent for a moment before replying, ' _Why the hell do we want that?!_ '

Manhunter did not reply to Iron Man. Instead, he began phasing in and out of the beast as it dashed towards him time and time again. The beast's roars only grew more confused as Manhunter repeated the process.

Wonder Woman and Thor swam towards Iron Man as he watched Manhunter try to confuse the beast, until the Martian in turn swam towards them. ' _Attack the beast while I distract him!_ ' he commanded.

' _That's actually a good plan._ ' Iron Man lamented, before the Kraken slapped him down with one of its tentacles.

Superman, Carol, and the Lanterns were already battling the Kraken, so Diana and Thor looked at each other before charging towards the other beast while Manhunter continued to phase through it.

Superman heatvisioned two of the Kraken's tentacles off, and the creature roared in agony. It tried to smack the Man of Steel, but he dodged the tentacle and sent out his heat vision towards the Kraken again while Iron Man blasted towards the creature from the opposite side.

The Kraken let out another, slower roar, and Carol took note of this. ' _We're making progress! It's getting slower!_ '

'… _Hal, create that giant sword of yours again while I summon up more of those eels!_ '

Hal looked at Alan before obliging, creating the giant sword again. This time, Alan created three dozen of the eels and had them all swim around the Kraken, leaving it utterly confused. With the Kraken distracted, Hal stabbed at the creature with his sword and Superman, Carol, and Iron Man all blasted at the creature. The Kraken roared and roared, but its pleas were ignored and the five pummeled at the creature until it finally laid dead to the ground.

While the Kraken was slain, the other beast was still standing and let out another roar, albiet one of pain. Wonder Woman had slashed at the creature several times while Thor bashed it in the head with his hammer. Manhunter's strategy of distracting the creature by phasing through it multiple times had worked, and now the beast was off its guard. It grabbed Thor with its gigantic hand, but Superman heatvisioned its wrist and it was forced to let go of the god. Superman blasted at the creature's chest while Wonder Woman slashed it, Manhunter decked it in the face, and Thor bashed at it with his hammer – until it, too, was but a body on the ocean floor.

Carol almost began to breathe heavily. ' _Well…not every day you get to fight off creatures like that._ ' She lamented.

' _Thor and I have fought much worse beasts._ ' Wonder Woman said as she swam towards Carol.

'… _.Anyone else think Namor and Aquaman will be pissed that we killed Altantis' little guardians here?_ ' Iron Man pointed out as the group began to circle up.

'… _We'll cross that bridge later.'_ Superman replied. _'We got to get to Atlantis to overthrow this King Attuma and liberate Altantis once and for all._ '

Superman swam down, towards the dome that kept the city of Atlantis guarded from the rest of the world. Everyone else followed suit, swimming aid to aid the rest of their allies and get all of this over with as soon as possible.

If he was being honest with himself, Superman didn't know how to feel about the fact that they were technically invading a foreign land and deposing their ruler on behalf of a people who, as a whole and not counting Mera, did not ask for their help. But he justified this action to himself, saying that this had to be done, for the good of Atlantis.

* * *

Jay and the Vanguard were all struggling to keep their mouths shut for much longer, with the exception of Batman, who activated a button on his armored glove; this led to a small piece of glass with an air breather forming around his mouth. Cap looked at it and wanted to think about how Batman made that work, but he couldn't. He had to focus on not drowning.

Batman could only as everyone else inched closer and closer to their deaths. Aquaman and Namor tried to swim towards the other superheroes, but Attuma bashed at both of them with his trident before they could do so. Mera created a dozen water missiles with the water around her now and launched them all towards Attuma. Namor saw this and looked at Aquaman.

"Let Mera hold off Attuma! We have to help everyone! Now!

Aquaman nodded and swam towards Black Panther. He wanted to help everyone so badly, but he had no idea how he could do so.

"How, father?!"

"…I don't know. Damnit, I don't know!"

Aquaman briefly wondered why Zatanna wasn't conjuring up some spell to allow them all to breath underwater, but then he remembered that she had to physically say the spells, something she could not do underwater. Aquaman's mouth went agape, and even Namor had some concern on his face as he rushed over to Jay. They didn't have enough time to get everyone to the surface, and they only had about a minute before everyone drowned, and half of the Vanguard was vanquished after only a few months of being active.

"You two must feel so helpless, watching your allies drown like this." Attuma said as he grabbed Aquaman and threw him towards the palace walls.

But just then, a few moments before, everyone else showed up, and Alan created a gigantic bubble that consumed all of them. Everyone let out enormous breaths as they could breath again, and they all got up, able to stand once more.

"Thank! God!" Hank yelled out as he just stood there and enjoyed being able to breath.

Zatanna waved her wand around. "Tnarg su retawrednu hceeps!" And red particles began to float around everyone as the spell kicked. "There we go. Just in case anything happens."

Alan had expanded his shield significantly by this point, and it had now consumed the entire room, forcing the water to the very walls. He only stopped expanding the shield when he saw small cracks on the wall.

The remaining soldiers still standing looked around, baffled and confused. Superman took a moment and decked them all in the face at super speed, knocking them all out.

Namor now smirked at Attuma. "It's over Attuma. You're hopelessly outnumbered."

"Damnit, father, do not say things like that!" Aquaman yelled back. "Next thing you know, there's a billion other soldiers and suddenly _we're_ hopelessly outnumbered."

Attuma shook his head. "No, no, your father's right. It is just me now. But –"

Before he could finish, Namor charged towards him and decked him in the face. The Flashes came along at super speed and punched him in the chest and face several times while Wasp, Hal, Iron Man, and Carol all blasted at him. But just then, he ripped his necklace off and opened it up, leading to a bunch of purple energy flying around the halls as everyone merely looked in confusion. Attuma slammed his trident into the center of the necklace which had a purple rock until he himself was engulfed in purple flames.

Attuma let out a hearty laugh. "I really did think I could defeat the surface world without this rock here. But now…now my victory is guaranteed!"

He darted towards Namor and bashed him with the trident, only now the blow was several times more powerful, and Namor was forced onto the ground. He tried to get up, but it was a struggle to do so.

Hal charged towards Attuma and created a sword while Thor jumped up and prepared to strike down at Attuma with his hammer. However, Attuma created a wave of purple energy that sent them both flying back. Carol blasted at him while Barry tried to punch him at super speed and Jay took off his helmet and beat into it, creating several sonic waves that did send Attuma to the wall. However, Attuma kicked Barry in the stomach, then grabbed his leg and sent him towards Jay. Carol charged closer towards Attuma, but he grabbed her hair and yanked it violently. She let out a scream before she was sent flying towards the wall.

Wasp tried to blast at Attuma, but he merely flicked her and Hank away, sending them down to the ground as well. "Ekam ish enots –" Zatanna tried to yell out, but he grabbed her by the throat and threw her towards Carol. Manhunter tried to deck him in the face, but Attuma sent out some purple fire. He saw how the Martian was weakened by it and created a circle of purple fire around Manhunter, forcing him down where he kneeled.

Cap's eyes widened. This power, and its purple flare…could it have been the same thing Schmidt and HYDRA had managed to weaponize back in 1945? He just stood there, trying to figure out how he could help as Batman, Hulk, and Black Panther were all sent towards the other wall by Attuma and struggled to get up. Attuma jumped up towards Alan, who was struggling to hold the shield together, and grabbed him by the neck and bashed him into the floor until he was knocked out. The shield dissipated, but thanks to Zatanna, they could all breath and talk underwater now.

Superman, Wonder Woman, Iron Man, Mera, and Aquaman all tried to battle Attuma, but their strikes and blows did very little against the sea king. Cap gritted his teeth. He wasn't as powerful as any of them, but he couldn't just stand by. He swam towards Attuma and bashed him with his shield, though the blow did very little. Attuma looked at Cap and only smirked.

"A shield, boy? You think you can fight me with nothing but a shield?" He said, before grabbing Cap by his leg and throwing him towards Superman.

"Jesus Christ, how on Earth are we supposed to stop this guy?!" Iron Man finally exclaimed.

"Get the Infinity Stone away from him!" Wonder Woman replied as she slashed at Attuma with her sword.

"Infinity – whatever." Iron Man said. He and everyone else figured that she was talking about the purple rock in Attuma's necklace.

Superman heatvisioned Attuma in the chest, and the king only gloated. "Fool! You have all been defeated already! Orin, tell your forces to give up now!"

Aquaman merely glared at Attuma and tried to rip off the necklace, but Attuma grabbed him by his wrist. Merely grabbing him hurt like hell for the prince, and he grunted. Wonder Woman stabbed Attuma in the back with her sword while Iron Man blasted him in the chest, but it still wasn't enough. Superman and Cap both got up and tried to figure out some way to distract Attuma.

Then Superman heard banging in the Batsub, and he turned around. It was only a few seconds before Orm came charging out the sub, a menacing glare drawn onto his face.

"Fear not, King Attuma! I am free now!" Orm yelled out. Attuma took note of Orm's arrival, but he only had a look of disapproval on his face.

"You are not needed, Orm! I have utilized the stone's power. I have no use for you anymore!"

Orm had a shocked look on his face. "But King Attuma –"

Attuma dodged a blast from Iron Man and charged towards him, kicking him towards Wonder Woman, before looking back at Orm. "I just said I have no use for you! Now leave, or I'll give you another whipping when all of this is –"

Superman then used his freeze breath to freeze Attuma in place. Orm gritted his teeth and swam towards the Man of Steel, but Cap bashed him the face with his shield.

Attuma broke free from the ice, but Iron Man blasted him from behind while Wonder Woman yanked the necklace off from him. Aquaman then grabbed Attuma's trident from his hand – and stabbed him in the chest with it. Orm yelled out, but Aquaman ignored his brother. He charged the now bleeding king into the wall, stabbing the trident in further. Attuma yelled in pain for a few moments before he stopped breathing.

Aquaman breathed heavily as Namor was finally able to get up, and he and everyone else looked in shock at Attuma's body. Aquaman breathed heavily. He didn't like that he just took a life, but it had to be done. And now Altantis was finally free from its tyrant of a ruler.

* * *

The group, who had regained their strength, now floated by the entrance to the palace, opposite the citizens of Atlantis, who looked at them with looks of awe and surprise. These were not the glorious and outstanding pillars of civilization that everyone thought they'd be. Rather, they were weak and frail, and the buildings around them were in major decay.

Five men swam towards the group, all clothed in muted red clothing. They were the Elders of Atlantis. "Namor, Orin…you have finally returned and overthrown Attuma." The one in the center stated as they approached them closer. "And Orm has been taken care of…" He added on, noting Orm's unconscious body near the group.

Aquaman nodded. "Sorry we took twenty-five years."

"They were twenty-five years of hell and misery, but we are just glad they're over."

Namor made eye contact with the lead Elder. "I will happily reclaim my throne. Under my leadership, Atlantis will return to prosperity in no time."

To that, the Elders shook their heads. "No, Namor."

Namor's eyes widened. "…What?!"

"Attuma brought us to ruin, but it was your ungodly arrogance that allowed Attuma to rally a revolution behind him and overthrow you. And I see it in your eyes and your words. You still have a lot of pride, Namor. And you of all people should know that surface world saying: Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it."

Aquaman, Namor, and Mera looked at each other, agape, before the Elder approached Aquaman. "Prince Orin, you shall gain the throne of Altantis in his place."

They still stood silent as they tried to wrap their heads around what was going on. "…Are you absolutely sure?" Aquaman asked.

"Yes. We put our complete trust in you. We trust that you will help restore Atlantis to its former glory. …Do better than your father did."

Deep down, Aquaman could tell that he was mainly becoming King because the Elders didn't want Namor back. But that didn't make this any lighter a burden. Before he could reply, the Elder to the near left handed him Attuma's trident, which had been cleaned of the former king's blood. He looked at Mera, who smiled, and at Namor, who looked down at the ground for a moment before making eye contact with his son – and nodding.

Aquaman raised the trident up, claiming the throne of Atlantis, and the crowds afar began to cheer, while everyone else looked confused.

Namor turned to the group. "Orin is the King of Altantis now."

"Aaaah…well, I imagine we'll be celebrating this after we help with the relief teams." Cap said with a smile on his face, to which Superman nodded.

"We can celebrate all we want, after we secure this Infinity Stone." Wonder Woman replied.

Thor nodded. "Diana's right. None of you have any idea how powerful this object truly is."

Superman stood there for a moment before speaking. "Don't worry. We'll take care of it. And then we'll celebrate having _two_ kings on the Vanguard."

They looked on, as the crowds continued to cheer Aquaman on.

"All hail the King." Mera said with a smile on her face.

Aquaman looked around. He had no idea where his life would go from here – but he didn't have a problem with that.


	9. Press Conference

**I swear, I'll be uploading more frequently from here on out. I swear XD No seriously, I do.**

* * *

After the formal celebrations in Atlantis, the Vanguard had a party to celebrate Aquaman and his ascension to the throne. Everyone stayed up long into the night, and Cap had gotten pretty used to staying up late. After all, a life in war during the 40s had not been that long ago to him. By the time he decided to call it a night and retire to his room, the only other two people who had done so beforehand were the two Bruces.

Cap yawned as he got out of his small bed. His bedroom in the Tower was pretty devoid of anything interesting. It was merely the same chrome color as everything else in the Tower, with the addition of a small bed with a green comforter and a single pillow. Cap didn't care that much, as he had nothing to decorate the room with anyway. He walked out of the room, placing his hand on his head as he did so.

He walked around the Tower for a bit, noting how sleek it looked even compared to everything else this century had to offer. It was also clean from the party that had occurred hours before - no doubt Superman cleaned up before he left. He found himself near the teleporter, and it was here that he saw Hal, Carol, and Barry lounging around, all in civilian attire and with Thor's hammer on the floor. Cap raised an eyebrow, as he was pretty sure it was early in the morning.

"What are you guys doing here?" Cap asked, scratching his head.

Hal, Carol, and Barry all turned their heads towards the super soldier.

"Oh, we had to come here because Barry forgot his wallet." Hal replied, with Barry sighing. "We're heading out for brunch in Metropolis."

"Uh-huh…" Cap directed his attention towards Mjlonir. "Aaaand why is Thor's hammer just lying around."

Carol shrugged. "We have no clue."

"But it gives me a great idea." Hal added on with a grin on his face. Hal walked up to the hammer, with green energy emitting from his ring.

"Don't do it, Hal." Barry warned.

Hal let out a 'pfft'. "Just watch me."

Hal created an energy construct of Thor, and the construct began to try and lift the hammer. But even as Hal evidently struggled with all his might, Mjlonir was still laying on the ground. Hal began to groan quite loudly, and Carol and Barry both began to chuckle while Cap just stood there with a raised brow. Hal groaned louder and louder, and cracks were forming out of the Thor construct, but there was still no signs that he could get the hammer lifted.

Finally, a hearty laugh could be heard from above, and everyone looked up to see Thor levitating above. He floated down and walked up towards Hal, still laughing.

"I did that just for you, Hal!" Thor said, slamming his hand onto Hal's back. "I knew you couldn't resist trying to lift Mjlonir. That was priceless! Just priceless!" Thor let out a louder laugh, while Hal let out a fake, angry laugh.

Thor laughed so hard that he just about teared up. "Alright then….I have to go to Asgard. There are some matters that Odin has requested I attend to." And with that, Thor went towards the teleporter and left the Tower.

Hal grumbled under his breath, to which Carol placed her hand on his shoulder, while chuckling a little bit. "Don't take it so hard, Highball."

Barry turned over to Cap. "So, Steve…have you gotten a chance to really explore the world?"

Cap sighed. "Not really, Barry. All I've done is watch my lover die, go to her funeral, stop some HYDRA goons, and help overthrow the ruler of Atlantis. I've had no time to just take a moment and truly let the world sink in."

Barry rubbed his neck. "Well...I got to thinking about that, and considering we're all heading out for brunch anyway…Hal, Carol, maybe we could let Steve come along with us."

"Hmmm…" Hal replied, cupping his chin. "…Yeah, I'd be down for that."

"Well, Steve…" Carol added on. "It's not just that you're decades behind. People also know that you're Captain America. I just wonder how you'll handle that."

If Cap had been wearing a regular t-shirt, he would've been pulling on it in uncertainty. He hadn't really thought about it, if mainly because he didn't have the time to do so. Everyone knew he was an active superhero now, and he had no idea what it would be like.

He could only shrug. "I…I really don't know, if I'm being honest."

Hal walked closer to Cap. "Well, there's only one to find out, Rogers. And really, you're gonna have to come out and see the modern world at one point or another. It might as well be now."

Cap stared at the teleporter at the moment and thought about it. They were right. He had to go out and see the 21st Century world as soon as he could, and this was the perfect opportunity to do so. After a few more seconds, he looked at the three and smiled.

"Yeah. I'm in."

Carol smiled back. "Excellent." Her smile morphed into a smirk as she looked at Barry. "Just wait for Barry to get his wallet. And Barry, don't keep us waiting for once."

Barry shook his head, muttering "Yeah, yeah." And super-sped off to look for his wallet.

* * *

Superman let out an 'mmm' as he, Black Panther, Hank, Wasp, Zatanna, and Aquaman all stood on a stage as journalists and reporters sat eagerly in the crowd. They were beginning a press conference in the city of Metropolis, New York. This press conference had been planned before the invasion from, and subsequent siege of, Atlantis, but Superman had no idea how the conference would go. He figured that the recent events of Atlantis would eclipse the conference, but he hoped to get in some information as HYDRA as well.

"We are sorry about the 338 casualties of Atlantis' attack. We truly are. I will personally make sure to honor every grave and every life lost because of this invasion. I am pleased to announced that Atlantis won't be taking any more human lives. King Attuma was successfully desposed. He had usurped the throne back in 1990, and ruled over the lost city for 25 years, but now, I present to you the newest monarch of Atlantis – Orin, also known as Aquaman!" He moved his hand towards Aquaman, who nodded as murmurs began going about in the crowd.

Superman wanted to sigh, but he knew that cameras were rolling. He didn't necessarily agree with Aquaman's decision to kill Attuma, but he knew how the world was with the Internet. They would eat that stuff up. Instead, he just took a moment and looked down at the ground.

"We will now be taking questions."

A redheaded lady with green eyes and a modelesque face stood up in response. "Hello, I'm Vicki Vale with _The Gotham Gazette_. Superman, are you aware that Congress is unhappy with you and the Vanguard for going and invading a foreign land and deposing its leader, regardless of how he came to power?"

"Yes, yes I am aware."

"And what is your response to Congress?" Vicki then asked, furrowing an eyebrow.

"We had to. An Atlantean named Mera came by our doorstep and told us that we had to go straight to Atlantis and face Attuma directly, lest he order attacks upon the entire surface world. I realize that we invaded a foreign sovereignty, but we had no window of time to consider anything else."

"Congress still isn't pleased with the Vanguard." Vicki remarked, still holding up her mic.

"We're sorry to have angered Congress. But I want them to understand our short amount of options relative to the suddenness of Atlantis' attack."

Then an African-American man with a partly wrinkled face, a thick pair of glasses, and a beard got up. "Hello, I'm Ben Urich with _The New York Gazette_. I have a question for Aquaman."

Superman nodded and moved aside, allowing Aquaman to walk towards the podium. "What is your question, Mr. Urich?"

"Your highness, it has been decades since we've heard anything from your underwater kingdom. Will you be working to re-establish relations with the rest of the world."

Aquaman chuckled. "Of course I will. In fact, after this conference, I will be working to get Atlantis a seat in the United Nations HQ. Attuma ran Altantis down to the ground, and international aid should help my kingdom on the road to recovery."

"What is the current state of Altantis, King Orin?" Urich added on.

"It is, essentially, a third world country, courtesy of Attuma. Rebuilding my kingdom will be my top priority. And before you ask, yes, that does mean I will be less active with the Vanguard for a little while."

"Thank you, King Orin. Now, I have been wondering about Captain America and his recent revival and inclusion into the Vanguard. Is there a particular reason he was not able to attend this press conference."

Aquaman moved aside, and Superman returned to the podium. "He's had it pretty busy in the short few days since his revival from the ice. He wasn't originally intended to be here anywhere, and I just figured he could use some time to just relax and try to adjust to the modern world."

"Understandable." And with that, Ben Urich sat back down. And now a dark brown-haired lady with a sharp nose and narrow eyes stood up, and Superman immediately recognized who he was – he worked with her at his dayjob as Clark Kent.

"Hello, I'm Lois Lane from _The Daily Planet_." She said in a loud tone that showed she meant business. "I want to add on to Vale's concerns about Congress. Congress, and a good chunk of the general public for that matter, is concerned that you guys will let the power get to your head and invade countries whenever you please. That, for example, you could invade North Korea and depose Kim jong-un, or take action in the Middle East. What do you have to say for these concerns."

Hank groaned and got up. "I'll handle this."

Superman didn't want Hank making a scene. "Hank –"

"Come on, Supes. I'll set the record straight."

Superman let out a small sigh and moved aside, giving Hank the podium. "Alright, look, the Man of Steel here made it very clear why we had to go to Atlantis. We didn't learn of Atlantis' attack until a minute before they invaded New York. Had we learned of Atlantis' plans sooner, we would've planned accordingly. But we didn't! And that Mera chick, she made it very clear that going straight to Atlantis was the best option we had! You all need to accept that!"

Wasp walked up towards the podium, and covered the microphone with her hand. Now she was the one sighing. "Babe, please calm down."

"Well, come on now! I just want to make sure we don't ramble on and on and on about this! We had no other choice, and we're sorry for angering the government! There! Simple as that!"

"You realize getting all mad about it won't make us look good in the eyes of the public, right?" Zatanna replied, adjusting her hat.

"Well, sometimes people can be so stupid and it makes me want to –"

"Alright, not here, guys." Superman said, and the three moved so that Superman could take the podium back. "To go back to your original question, Miss Lane…no, we will not be going to North Korea or the Middle East anytime soon. As Ant-Man said, Atlantis was a special circumstance."

It was just then that a bunch of reporters stood up.

"So you're just going to let the people of North Korea suffer?!"

"You Vanguardians have the power to topple governments!"

"Will the Vanguard take action if or when World War III commences?!"

"What will you do if a law is passed that you don't like? Reign down your power onto Washington?"

"Have you felt any desire to go and end the War on Terror?"

"What will the Vanguard do if an ally of the US is invaded?"

As the questions kept pouring on, Hank placed his hand on the microphone and groaned. "I really want to handle this, Kal. We gotta hammer this point into their heads."

Superman shook his head. "No, Ant-Man. We have to deal with this carefully. I'll handle this."

Hank took his hand off the mic and Superman began to speak. "Alright, everyone, that's enough questions."

The crowd silenced, and Superman cleared this throat.

"No, we will not reign down our power onto Washington if a bill is passed that we don't like. We do not at all condone the atrocities committed by North Korea or the losses that have emerged from the War on Terror. However, it is outside of our jurisdiction to go and intervene. Some of you might have the Liberty Brigade in mind, but keep in mind how that group was created. The Liberty Brigade was specifically created and sent by President Roosevelt to fight in World War II, and even then, they only fought HYDRA – they never fought against the regular Axis forces. We do not have the condolence from the US government, or any government, to intervene like this. The Vanguard of Justice tries to protect the world, not decide how it should be run."

"Pretty good for a speech he's pulling out of his ass." Hank whispered to Wasp.

Superman, of course, easily heard of Hank's remark, but decided that now was not the time to deal with it.

"Good speech. Now, if it's alright, I have a question for King T'Challa." Lois said.

Superman moved aside and Black Panther took the podium. "What is your question, Miss Lane?"

"So what Superman just said makes sense. That as superheroes, you can't decide how what the governments should do and how the world should go round. That's all dandy, but now I wonder about you. Why can you, as a King and not just a superhero, provide aid to Africa? Wakandans live lives of luxury and prosperity while the rest of Africa is trapped under the iron boot of poverty and war. You have more than enough resources to aid your home continent, yet there has been no action even after Wakanda was revealed to the rest of the world."

Black Panther just paused, and Superman could practically feel his awkwardness.

It was a moment or two before Panther broke the silence. "…Miss Lane, I am aware that Africa has the majority of the third-world nations out there, and I want to do something. I really do. But the Elders of Wakanda refuse to give any aid to the rest of the world. I have been trying to get through to them, but they are…difficult, so to speak."

Lois furrowed her eyebrow. "And you don't have it in you to stand up to these Elders?"

The crowd went up in an uproar, and Superman sighed as his co-worker put his teammate in an even more awkward situation. As the reporters and the journalists talked over each there, there were cries of 'shit' from Hank and Zatanna, and Superman himself had no idea where things would go from here.


	10. Cyclops' Intrusion

Hal, Carol, Barry, and Steve had all gone to a Village Inn for breakfast. Hal and Carol were on one side of the table, and Barry and Steve were on the other. They were watching the press conference from Barry's iPad.

 _Black Panther: Alright, wait a minute, everybody! Come, settle down!_

Hal let out a half-smile and shook his head. "Man, I am so glad I passed on that conference."

Cap had his chin cupped, and he couldn't help but stare at the iPad. "…That Lois Lane seems pretty disrespectful."

Carol extended her arm and looked at her fingers. "Oh, that Lane girl is quite the person. Bold and outspoken."

"But talking like that to a king….so you guys said that Clark works with her at The Daily Planet? I just gotta wonder how he feels about this."

"Knowing him, he probably feels awkward about the whole thing. It's not like Lois is entirely wrong, though. The idea of having elders dictate an entire country just doesn't work anymore. T'Challa and Orin are gonna have to realize that."

"Right, right…" Steve leaned back, and began looking at the iPad again. "This 'iPad'…it's pretty amazing."

Barry grinned ear-to-ear. "That's not even the best thing we have to offer. Steve, just wait until you see how far we've come since the 40s."

Steve shook his head again. "Still trying to grasp it all, Barry."

Then a waitress with thick purple eyeliner, braided black hair with green dye at the tips, and a piercing on her nose with one on her right ear and two on her left ear walked up to the table and took their orders. Steve ordered biscuits with sunny side-up eggs; Carol ordered regular pancakes with two strips of bacon, Hal ordered bacon, sausage, and eggs; and Barry ordered double blueberry pancakes with sausage, sunny side-up eggs, three strips of bacon, and hash browns.

The waitress just paused and gazed at Barry with a stunned look, before walking away.

"Jesus, Barry," Steve blurted out immediately after the waitress left. "You gonna eat everything here?"

Barry bopped his head. "A…consequence of my abilities is that I have an increased metabolism. A really increased metabolism."

"You should see him when we have Chinese." Hal added on with a laugh.

Steve let out a half-hearted chuckle, before turning around to look at their waitress, who was taking some random guy's order. "So…was with that girl and those things on her ears and nose?"

Carol rubbed her nose. "Steve, those are piercings. They've become quite popular among a good chunk of the current generation."

"Riiiiight." Steve then swerved his head and saw a tall, muscular African-American in a dark jacket and navy blue jeans holding hands with a blonde-haired woman in red lipstick and a white dress. The man kissed the woman on the cheek, and Steve's eyes widened.

"Interracial couples are allowed now, too," Carol piped in, having evidently seen Steve watching the couple. Carol then furrowed his eyebrow. "…What do you think of that."

"Oh, um…" Steve began to make awkward motions with his hands. "…I'm actually alright with that. I always supported racial equality, and never liked segregation. And yes, I did feel alone in my time for it."

"Ah, good."

"But it's weird as all hell that people aren't trying to throw them out of the restaurant. Good weird, but weird nonetheless."

Barry then began to feel around himself, fretting and panicking. Then he felt his hoodie pocket and let out a sigh of relief.

"Here's another thing, Steve." Barry said as he pulled out a Samsung Galaxy phone. "When you can't feel this in your pocket, you're gonna have a mini heart attack."

Steve shook his head. "I don't see what was so wrong with rotary phones…"

"A rotary phone? What's a rotary phone?" Hal asked.

"Damn you, Hal!"

"I kid, I kid," Hal began to crack up while Steve narrowed his eyes towards him.

Then Steve heard kids talking, and he turned around to see two 8-10 year old boys at a table not too far, with their mother on the other side. The two kids giggled about, and what got Steve's attention was them saying 'Captain America'.

"Man, imagine if a group of terrorists just circled Cap, preparing to gun him down!"

"He would totally fight back! He's not Captain France. He would be all 'You think this A stands for France?!'"

No he wouldn't, Steve thought to himself, having a decent amount of respect for the French; but they were kids, so he decided to just brush it off.

It was then that their waitress came back, with a cart that had all of their plates on it. Hal, Carol, and Steve were handed their plates, one each, while Barry had a total of three plates for all of his food. Hal shook his head while Barry grinned at his food and didn't waste a second before digging in right away.

"Now, Barry, at least slow down and enjoy your food this time." Carol said with a small smile on her face. "We don't want everyone's heads turning again."

"Yeah, alright." Barry replied before chowing down on one of his bacon strips.

Hal chuckled before digging into his own food. Steve said nothing, either. He just relaxed at the thought of being able to sit down and actually enjoy a meal for the first time since before he joined the Liberty Brigade back in the 40s. He looked around and took note of everyone's attire. T-shirts and jeans as casual attire were unheard of in his time, but now everyone wore them.

As he took a bite of his pancakes, something else popped into his mind, something he found out shortly after learning how to use the Internet. "So…people seem a lot more mistrusting of the government…"

Hal sighed. "Yeah. That distrust kicked off in the 60s with this thing called the Vietnam War, and it's only been escalating from there."

Steve looked at his food. "That, um…that's unfortunate to hear." Steve pondered the thought – given his codename of Captain _America_. He hoped that people would remember that his association is with the Vanguard and not the actual US Government.

He saw Barry staring at his plate, looking at it and letting out a sigh of exasperation. Steve smiled, as he could see that Barry was struggling not to rush through his breakfast. He was quickly plowing through his biscuits himself, so Steve wasn't really one to judge Barry at the moment.

"Hey, how's the press conference doing?" Carol asked after swallowing a bite of her pancakes.

"Um, let me check the livestream." Hal said, before pulling out his iPad. Everyone stopped eating and took a moment to look at the conference.

 _Zatanna: Well, you see, Ms. Vale, I don't think Captain America would automatically side with the government against us, just because of the patriotic elements behind his creation._

Steve chuckled. Speak of the devil.

"I'm worried about that, honestly. Just because I have 'America' in my name doesn't grant my blind loyalty to the country."

"I'll drink to that." Hal replied after eating a piece of bacon. "I mean, it's too early to drink, but in a few hours I will."

"I can't get drunk…" Barry lamented after chowing on a bit of his pancakes.

Steve shook his head. "It's alright, Barry. Neither can I."

"Barry, your inability to get drunk is a blessing." Carol added on as she ran her hand through her hair. "Makes it much easier on me and Hal when we all go out for drinks."

Barry grumbled and continued to eat his food, while Steve just sat there and chuckled once more.

* * *

It wasn't long before they all finished their meals, and they decided to head back to the Vanguard Tower just to hang out for a little while longer. The blue beams roared into the Tower, and the four were all standing on the teleporter.

Barry let out a sigh. "Man, it's good to not be seeing a murder victim today."

Steve raised his eyebrow, and Barry saw this. "Oh, um…I work as a CSI over in Central City. I like it overall, but sometimes I end up wishing I hadn't just had breakfast, you know?"

"Huh. Interesting…" Steve cupped his chin before looking at Hal and Carol. "So while we're at it, what do you guys do for a living?"

Carol rubbed her neck. "Oh, we're test pilots at Ferris Air, all the way in Coast City."

"Coast City? You mean all the way in California? Wow, getting to the Vanguard Tower must be a hassle."

To that, Hal screamed with laughter, to the point where a tear could be seen coming out of his eye, and Steve just stood there, dumbfounded.

"Sorry, sorry." Hal said, putting his hands up. "But Steve, remember when I said I was the Green Lantern of Sector 2814? Well, that covers quite a bit of space. See, there are these little blue aliens called the Guardians of the Universe. They live in the center of the universe, and they've decided up the galaxy into 3600 sectors, with two Green Lanterns per sector. I've traveled across whole galaxies, my friend."

"Huuuuuh…." Was all that Steve could reply with for a moment. "So Green Lantern is a title for you. …But if you have to travel across galaxies as part of your whole shtick…why do you spend so much time on Earth?"

"Well, um…my sector is pretty damn quiet. And as I said, there's two Green Lanterns per sector. The other dude is this guy named Kilowog. He's brutish but awesome…and ugly as hell. I mean this guy –"

Suddenly, the alarm went off. *INTRUDER ALERT, INTRUDER ALERT* *UNIDENFITED PERSONNEL ON VANGUARD PROPERTY* *INTRUDER ALERT, INTRUDER ALERT*

Hal groaned. "Oh, goddamnit." He grumbled, before a green glow came from his ring and his outfit appeared over him. "Barry, check out the situation."

Barry's suit appeared out a small ring he had on his index finger, and he got into gear almost right away. Steve's eyes widened – he hadn't even noticed the ring, let alone have any idea how Barry stored it. But he decided to inquire the speedster about it later as Barry zoomed towards their meeting room.

*Alright, I'm checking the cams now* Barry said through the ear comm.

Carol had zoomed away, too, before showing back up next to Hal in uniform, while Steve ran to his room to get his own outfit on.

*Okay, guys…it's Cyclops, from the M-Force. He just crashed into our tower.* Barry added on, and as Steve got his outfit out, he had just about enough of being left confused and unsure for one day.

"Who's Cyclops, and who are the M-Force?" Steve asked.

*The M-Force is a team of mutants, and Cyclops is their field leader.* Hal replied. This answered Steve's two questions, but raised a third one.

"What are mutants?"

*You haven't learned what mutants are?* Hal asked back, seemingly confused.

"70 years is a lot to catch up on." Steve retorted as he took off his hoodie.

*We'll meet your outside, Cap!* Carol said.

"Wait, where are J'onn and Bruce?!"

*They went on a trip to the Serengeti.* Carol answered, *And we can handle this ourselves.*

"Alright. I'll be out as soon as I can, but keep in mind that I don't have super speed!"

* * *

Scott Summers, the hero known as Cyclops, groaned loudly and placed his hand on his head as he got up, having just crashed into the Vanguard Tower. He was a brown-haired teen of 16, and he wore a golden visor over his eyes. He had on a blue outfit with a yellow belt, boots, and gloves. He also had on a golden yellow strap, held together but a round red object that had an 'M' at its center.

He looked around, and then glanced up at the Vanguard Tower, tilting his head as he did so. It was just then that Hal, Barry, and Carol all teleported out of the Tower and faced him directly.

"Sorry for damaging your ivory tower." Cyclops said, removing his hand from his head.

Hal glared at the younger superhero. "Kid, lose the attitude and tell us why you just crashed into our HQ."

"We're fighting the Brotherhood, Lantern. And we can take care of them just fine on our own."

Carol furrowed her eyebrow. "So…you seriously expect us to just stand aside, Cyclops?"

"Captain Marvel, trust us. We've already fought and taken down the Brotherhood a couple times by ourselves. We'll be fine." Cyclops smirked after saying that.

"Alright, let me rephrase that. You seriously expect us to stay out of this conflict when said conflict just caused damage to our tower."

Cyclops' smirk disappeared. "Well, um, when you put it like that…"

"Listen here, kid." Hal said, pointing his finger towards Cyclops. "We're in this little conflict now, no matter how well you think you can handle the Brotherhood. Now, where is the rest of the M-Force."

It was just then that Cap teleported out of the Tower and met up with the four, and Cyclops paused for a moment before he finally spoke. "…They're only a couple blocks from here."

"Well, who sent you crashing into the Tower?" Barry asked.

Then a gigantic, morbidly obese man with red hair, and enormous double chin, and a black suit reminiscent of a bathing suit jumped into the scene, and he laughed wildly as the Cyclops and the Vanguardians began to prepare themselves.


	11. The M-Force

"Summers! How in the hell did you survive that?!" The man shouted out as he pounded onto his fists.

"I'm a lot tougher than you give me credit for, Blob." Cyclops retorted, before blasting out optic blasts from his eyes towards Blob, who was amazingly able to dodge them despite his poultry build.

Blob then proceeded to charge towards the five superheroes, but Hal merely smirked and created a gigantic baseball bat, with which he bashed Blob, sending the young rogue flying a few feet away.

"You know, kid, with us on your side, the Brotherhood will be less of a hassle." Hal said as Blob groaned.

"Yeah, yeah.." Cyclops replied, and it was then that Blob quickly got back up and charged towards the group once more.

Hal chuckled. "I love it when these goons don't learn!" He shouted before creating a wrecking ball and swinging it towards Blob.

Carol narrowed her eyes and shot out her energy blasts towards the goliath of a man, and Barry began running circles around Blob. Blob looked around as the Flash went at super-speed, and he yelled angrily as he tried to look for an opportunity to deck Barry – but he couldn't because of Barry's speed. Finally, Barry zoomed towards Blob and punched him right in the stomach. Due to his velocity, Blob was sent flying several feet away once more.

"Save yourself any more pain and just stay down." Carol exclaimed as Blob groaned.

Cap had not been able to contribute much to the battle against Blob, and now that he had been taken down, Cap felt it was the time to ask what the hell was going on. "Alright, I'm still completely in the dark about all of this. What is your deal, Cyclops? They told me you were a mutant, but I don't know what that means. And is 'Blob' a mutant, too? I just want to know what all of this is about."

Cyclops sneered. "Has he really not heard of us? Alright then. We mutants are people who were born with superpowers and special abilities, and people hate us for it."

Cap scratched his head. "…Huh. Never heard of that one before. Also, people like us just fine…"

"It's prejudice, Cap. It never makes sense." Barry replied. "Though more accurately, people are _split_ on mutants..."

Cyclops just sneered. "Look, I don't have time to give a history lesson!" He angrily barked out. "We and the Brotherhood are mutants. We're good, they're bad. There, done!"

Cap could see that Hal was getting frustrated with the kid, and though he didn't want to admit it, the Super Soldier was getting pretty annoyed with Cyclops as well. Cap could concede to the point that he had more pressing matters on his hands and couldn't take the time to explain everything…but it was just his attitude. Cap sighed in frustration. He wanted to call him out, but he held back. He had no idea how high the stakes were, and he would rather find that out first.

Then, an African-American lady with pure white hair and pupiless eyes came flying towards the four before any of them could move out. She donned a sleeveless all-black outfit, with a red chestpiece bearing 'M' on it and a yellow belt. But what really made Cap's eyes widen was the arrival of a green dinosaur. It was a _Deinonychus_ , though Cap did not recognize it as such due to having been frozen before its discovery. He prepared himself to combat the creature, assuming that this beast would attack him.

It came to his surprise, then, when the creature morphed into a light green-furred lad, one with big green eyes and whose hair was a dark shade of green than the rest of his coating. He wore a black outfit purple on his chest and shoes, the former bearing a small 'M' on the top right side, and he came running towards the five with a cheery look on his face.

"Oh my God, Sc-Cyclops!" He boasted with a grin on his face. "You ran into the Vanguard?! Holy shit!" He immediately darted towards Captain America. "I just gotta say, it's so cool to actually meet you guys in person. I'm Garr Logan, or Changeling, and I can – "

"Focus, Changeling." The lady said in a stern voice, and Changeling stood quiet immediately after.

Cyclops looked at Changeling for a moment before looking up at the lady, who was still levitating up in the air. "We got any trace of Magneto, Storm?"

Storm shook her head. "Negative, Cyclops. Elasti-Girl and I are beginning to think that Magneto is distracting us while he orchestrates his scheme from an unknown location."

Changeling looked up at Storm with a flabbergasted look on his face. "Oh come on, Storm! Are you seriously just not going to acknowledge _the Vanguard of Justice_?!"

Storm let out a chuckle, one that Cap could only see, as he was too far away to hear it. "Of course not. It is an honor to be among you, Vanguardians."

"Pleasure's all ours." Carol said with a smile on her face. "We'll help you take down Magneto if so needed."

Cap put his hands up in the air, frustrated. "Well, wait. Who's Magneto?"

"No time to explain, Captain!" Cyclops replied with the same loud tone he had been using the entire time. "M-Force, move out! And don't knock out any more members of the Brotherhood! We need to get information on Magneto, stat!"

Cyclops ran off. "Everyone, update me on your situation!" He said through an ear comm.

Cap couldn't help but over hear Carol and Hal.

"Hal, I won't stop you if you want to punch that little asshole in the face." She whispered towards the Lantern.

Hal smirked. "That is very good to hear."

Cap honestly couldn't blame Hal for wanting to deck Cyclops, but he couldn't really worry about that at the moment. He just wanted to know who the hell Magneto was.

"So wait, am I just going to be left in the dark about this Magneto dude? I want to know what's going on!"

"Magneto is the leader of the Brotherhood." Changeling answered, and though Cap had already managed to deduce that, he was glad to see that Changeling was more polite than Cyclops. "And he can control all magnets and stuff like that."

Now that was news to Cap, and was definitely not something he had seen before. "Thanks."

Hal held his hand up, a green energy emitting from his hand. "Alright, I'm bored and my ring finger's itching."

Hal would not have to wait for another chance to fight, for the fight came to them. Some form of creature came charging towards them, and it was…unlike anything Cap had ever seen before. Even Hal, Barry, and Carol looked stunned by the sight of the creature, and Cap simply had no idea what to make of the damn thing. The right side of its face was that of a man looking to be in his late fifties to early sixties, but that was the only thing that looked remotely human about this abomination. It had blue clothing on the right side of its torso, but then the right arm looked very much like a tree branch, as did its right leg. The left side of the creature was a purple _Tyrannosaurus_ , even right down to the left side of its face, which made for a very jarring sight indeed. And finally, it's left arm was composed entirely of diamonds.

Cap had not seen anything like this beast since awakening, and he sure as hell had not seen this kind of thing back in the war.

"We'll take care of this dude! Go find Magneto!" Barry told Storm and Changeling. Storm nodded and flew away, while Changeling let out an 'aww' and turned into a _Deinonychus_ again and ran off.

Cap breathed heavily. "What… _what on Earth is that thing?!_ "

"That would be Dr. Sven Larson, Cap." Barry answered.

"And why does he look like that at all?!"

"He can shapeshift his body into various animals, plants and minerals."

"Yeah, that…partly explains why he looks like that."

Hal flew up in the air and blasted green energy towards Larson, to which the beast roared in agony. Carol blasted yellow energy at Larson three times, and Barry began circling his arms around. Initially, Cap didn't know what he was doing, but then he saw wind funnels being created out of Barry's arms, and they blew the aberrant man away. Cap grunted and launched his shield towards Larson, intending him to impale the creature in his organic leg. It worked, and Larson roared in pain.

"Hey guys, I was thinking this guy could be named something like Animal-Vegetable-Mineral-Man." Barry said while Larson remained down.

Hal shrugged. "Weird name, but this a weird dude, so it fits, I guess."

Cap thought it was quite fitting, and he still couldn't quite get over how strange 'Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man' looked. Animal-Vegetable-Mineral-Man let out a ghastly roar and grabbed Barry with his diamond hand, repeatedly bashing him into the ground.

"Now, now, Dr. Larson! Barry is not a toy!" Carol shouted before flying fast towards the beast and punching him hard enough in the face to send him flying a couple dozen feet, letting go of Barry in the process.

Barry groaned and got up. "I _just_ gave him a supervillain name."

"Barry, you're great overall…but not with naming supervillains."

Barry rolled his eyes. "Sure thing, Carol."

"It's just too long."

Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man roared and morphed his tree hand into a wooden fist, then grabbed Cap and threw him towards the Vanguard Tower, not too far from where Cyclops had first crashed down.

Hal shook his head. "Alright, Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man. I'm done playing around."

He created a machine gun and began opening fire on Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man, but while the creature roared in agony, he was not falling dead to the ground. Hal gritted his teeth and created a giant boulder, with which he smacked the creature down to the ground. He then morphed his right hand into an anaconda's head, and lunged towards Hal.

Hal yelled in pain when the anaconda head sank its teeth into his leg. The Tyrannosaur part of Larson's head let out a deafening roar, and before Carol, Cap, or Barry could think to do anything, Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man began to grow immensely in size. The human part of his face let out a sadisitic grin.

"You think _you're_ the one who's done playing around, Green Lantern?" His grin morphed into a smirk as the snake head began to extend its body out. "That's cute, because the fun has only just begun."

Carol began blasting out yellow energy towards him, but all Larson did was keep that grin on his face as his snake arm began to constrict itself around Carol. Carol tried desperately to break free from his grip, but it was in vain, and he threw her into the Vanguard Tower. Green energy began emitting from Hal's ring again, but Larson's dinosaur leg morphed into a leg composed entirely of iron and steel, and began stomping on Hal, who could do little but grunt and yell.

"Man, this guy's a tough one…" Cap lamented to himself.

Barry overhead Cap and nodded. "Yeah…yeah he is."

Then they turned when they heard a groaning sound, and were shocked to see that Blob had gotten up. Blob looked at the two, and grinned as he began to charge towards them.

But then black energy was shot towards Blob, and he was sent back down to the ground. Barry and Cap turned around and looked up to see a man in a red outfit with a white v-shaped area on his chest, but what really got their attention was that his face was completely bandaged up, making Cap wonder just how on Earth this man was able to see at all.

Then the clouds began to darken, and they saw Storm returning to the scene – and this time, her eyes were glowing. Lighting roared away from the nimbostratus clouds, and Cap briefly spent a moment wondering if Thor had just arrived on the scene. It was to his surprise, then, that Storm waved her hand towards Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man, with a bolt of lightning raining down towards him. Larson screamed in agony when the bolt struck him, and Hal used the opportunity to create a sledgehammer and bash Larson in the face with it.

Storm smirked, but then a yellow portal appeared out of nowhere behind her, and out of it emerged a bald, sharp-nosed man donned entirely in golden armor. He decked Storm in the face, and then created another portal. He exited out of that portal and then another portal appeared from right under Storm.

"Warp!" She shouted out, before attempting to conjure up more lighting. But she couldn't, for Warp decked her right in the face before she could do so. Warp punched her two more times and then kicked her in the stomach. Carol flew out from the Vanguard Tower and shot out energy blasts towards Warp, and Storm was now able to shoot out lighting towards Warp, sending her down to the ground.

By this point, Cap and Barry had begun attacking Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man, with Barry punching him several times at super speed while Cap thrusted his shield into the beast's dinosaur leg. Cap was still thinking about why he was fighting – and where this Magneto was. Only more questions were raised when, out of the blue, he felt a punch to the stomach, and he turned around to see Changeling.

He was confused. He thought Changeling was one of the good guys. But Changeling didn't say anything. All he did was enlarge his right hand and deck Cap right in the face. Barry saw this and began zooming towards Changeling, but the green boy turned invisible, much to the speedster's confusion. Then he popped out of thin air and kicked Barry in the stomach.

' _What is this guy's deal?_ " Cap thought. " _Did he just suddenly decide to betray his team or what is going on here?_ "

' _Sorry for invading your mind like this, Captain, but that's not really Changeling. That's a lady named Raven Darkholme, or Mystique. She's with the Brotherhood._ '

Cap had absolutely no idea who that was – he could tell from the voice that it definitely wasn't J'onn – but he was at least glad to have the clarification. He decked the Changeling imposter in the face, and Barry repeatedly punched 'Mystique' in the chest multiple times, then delivered a neat uppercut to the face that sent her down to the ground. It was at this point that the lady revealed her true form, a blue-skinned lady with red hair and white tactical gear on. She groaned, and Cap prepared to knock her out, but then he remembered what Cyclops had said about getting information on Magneto and relented.

Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man finally collapsed to the ground, and a brunette in a red outfit with a white torso and strip under her neck walked up towards the group. She had to have been standing at least 20 feet tall. An average-sized redheaded female flew in front of her; this lady had on a lime green outfit, with yellow gloves and boots as well as…some sort of yellow symbol on her chest that Cap couldn't quite make out.

The redhead flew down towards Cap and Barry. "My name is Jean Grey. I am the one who entered into your minds. Sorry for doing so without your permission." She then pointed towards the giant lady. "And this is Rita Farr, but you may call her Elasti-Girl."

"No, I am not named after the _Incredibles_ character, and no, I don't really want to change my name." Elasti-Girl added on.

Cap then looked at the man with the bandaged head, and pointed towards him. "So who's that guy?"

"That would be Negative Man." Elasti-Girl added on.

Then Cyclops and Changeling ran up towards the M-Force. "We get any information on Magneto?" Cyclops asked in a frustrated voice.

"Negative." Jean answered.

"Damnit!" Cyclops yelled in response. He then saw that Mystique was conscious and nearby, and walked up towards her, grabbing her by her shirt. "Alright, Raven…where's Magneto?"


	12. A Unique Brand of Patient

"Why the hell should I tell you anything?" Mystique hissed out.

Cyclops scoffed and decked her in the face. "What do you think you guys actually achieve? You can't better human-mutant relations like this!"

"We know, and you are such naïve fools. Humans will always fear us, so we might as well show them who the dominant race truly is."

Cyclops took a moment and scowled at Mystique, before firing an optic blast inches away from her face. "I'm done messing around, Raven! Tell me where Magneto is _right now_!"

Cap reached out his hand, ready to walk up to Cyclops and tell him to knock it, but he and his fellow Vanguardians just stood there as Jean and Changeling beat them to it.

"Cyclops, calm down!" Jean yelled out, placing her hand on her teammate's shoulder.

"Yeah, bro, don't freaking _torture_ her!" Changeling added on.

Cyclops paused for a moment, and then he sighed. "…I'm sorry. I just tire of these games that the Brotherhood always play."

As Cap stood there, he couldn't help but think of his days in World War II when Cyclops said that, and how he always felt frustrated and agitated by how the threat of HYDRA never seemed to quiet down until they took down their very last base.

"Well still, Cyc, you need to lay back a little!" Changeling replied.

"This would go a lot faster if Wonder Woman was here." Hal whispered towards his four fellow Vanguardians.

Carol and Barry both nodded, but Cap looked at Hal with a confused look on his face. He had no idea why Wonder Woman in particular would be helpful to this situation at all. He thought for a moment that it could be something to do with her super strength and general demeanor, but he was still in the dark, and he didn't try to hide it.

Hal looked at Cap and picked up on his confusion. "Oh, Wonder Woman has this 'Lasso of Truth'. Rope it around someone, and they'll spill out the truth like it's no one's business."

Now Cap nodded in surprise. "…I see."

They all turned back to see Jean, who's eyes were now closed as her face pointed straight down towards Mystique's, who was grimacing.

"Get the hell out of my mind, you damn witch!" Mystique yelled as she placed her hands on her head, grunting in rage as Jean reached her hand out.

Cap titled his head. "What is she doing?"

Then Jean opened her eyes back up, with Mystique done grunting and instead breathing heavily. Cap was still pondering the situation. "I mean, what…what are you doing, Jean?"

"I read her mind." Jean answered. "I'm a telepath." She looked away from Cap and towards Cyclops, Changeling, and the rest of the M-Force. "She was quite stubborn, but I did get Magneto's location. He's located underground with Madame Rouge, directly 2 miles beneath the Empire State Building. And we gotta hurry...he's close to achieving his goal."

Hal piped in. "I'm sorry, what exactly is his goal again?"

"I'll explain when we get there. We all gotta move out, now!"

* * *

The walls were an unpainted cement, and Madame Rouge was surrounded by an area about as colorful as a rainy sky.

She was a black-haired and blue-eyed lady in a red skirt with black thigh-high boots and black gloves that reached well-past her elbows. Sweat was dropping her face, as she was not looking forward to telling her boss the bad news.

Madame Rouge knew she would be fine – it was the rest of the Brotherhood that she felt was screwed. She just knew that Magneto wouldn't take their apparent failure well. At all.

After about a minute or so of walking, she saw a steel door and opened it up. It was here that she found herself surrounded by what almost looked like a poor-rate hospital. There were medical beds all around, with unconscious patients coated in the gowns that one would expect to see out of a hospital. But what was different here is that most of the people lying down in these beds were hideously deformed.

Some had bumps all around their body, and the person directly to the left of Madame Rouge had veins that popped out so much as to make anyone uncomfortable. There was a patient near the end of the room whose face was not unlike that of Joseph Merrick, the Elephant Man, and another person had horns that grotesquely shot out of her forehead, with blood around the end of the horns.

She couldn't lie to herself, it was without a doubt an unnatural sight to behold. But she felt that ultimately, it was all for the better. All of this would help the Brotherhood with their ultimate goal, of having mutants dominate over humans once and for all.

It was in the center of the room where he stood. Magneto. His face was not yet visible. All Madame Rogue could see was a dark red cape and a shiny dark red helmet, with muted purple boots peering out from underneath the cape.

He turned out, and Rouge saw it clear that while he donned mostly red, he also wore muted purple gloves, and his helmet had purple at the front linings. And he looked at Rouge with a glare on his face.

"I hope you bring to me good news, Laura." He said in a stern voice.

"…I'm afraid not, Magneto."

To this, Magneto gritted his teeth. "Alrighty then. Don't be afraid to get it out, child."

Rouge looked down at the ground for a moment, feeling uneasy, before looking back up at Magneto. "I haven't heard back from any other members of the Brotherhood. I think we can infer that they were not able to hold off the M-Force for long. Charles and Niles' pupils will probably be charging into here shortly."

Magneto let out a deep sigh and looked at all the patients around him. "These people here…with them at our side, we should be able to fight off the M-Force."

Madame Rouge sighed. "I don't think they're ready, Magneto. We haven't done enough testing with them!"

"They'll have to do, Laura! They've at least demonstrated abilities and powers from what we've done to them! Their once untapped potential has been found. All we have to do is tell them that the M-Force is out to kill them….and then they'll help take care of the M-Force!"

"Has any of our testing shown that we can make them comply like that?"

There was a brief pause before Magneto spoke again, pointing to the veined patient. "Yes. A few, including this one here, have had most of their consciousness degenerate as a result of our experiments. A side effect I did not exactly desire, I will admit. I want to work on fixing that…but after we take care of Charles and Niles' lackeys."

To that, Rouge smirked. "And it's not like they can really throw anything at us that we won't already see coming."

Just then, they heard a large bashing sound come from the hallway, causing both of them to turn around. There was another bashing sound, and the two ran out of the room to see just what the hell was going on. Madame Rouge's eyes widened at who had caused the sounds.

"Gre-Green Lantern?!" She shouted out in surprise. There was a gigantic hole in the left side of the hallway, and Hal was levitating a few inches above the ground, about twenty feet away from Rouge and Magneto.

Magento looked at Madame Rouge with a scowl on his face. "A rule of thumb is not say it can't get worse or more surprising, dear." He yelled at her, before turning to see Carol, Jean, Storm, and Negative Man fly out of the hole and stand near Hal. This was definitely an unforeseen complication, one that only worsened when they saw Barry zoom into the scene.

"What are you Vanguardians doing here?" Magneto asked.

Cap, Cyclops, Changeling, and Elasti-Girl all ran out of the hole Hal created, and now the entire group was together.

"Well, we saw Cyclops crash into our tower and figured something was amiss." Barry answered, doing a typical superheroic pose.

Magneto's look of surprise vanished, replaced by a smirk. "So, you only got involved because it affected you directly? That's so typical of humans."

Cap narrowed his eyes. "What's your deal? What's your problem with humans? Don't you realize that no good can come of terrorizing the innocent?"

Magneto shook his head. "I see you're still as naïve as the history books portrayed you to be, Captain. I was in the Holocaust, and if there was one thing I learned from suffering in the death camps, if there is one thing I learned as I watched my mother perish by the hand of the Nazis, if there is _one thing I learned as HYDRA tortured me and experimented on me for years_ , it's humans will always be brutes. They'll always oust those that are different, and try to wipe out those they condemn. The world will be better once mutants reign supreme."

By this point, Madame Rouge had ran off into the room full of patients, and Magneto let out an 'hmm'. "You see, Captain, you and your Vanguardians are just freak accidents. You're regular people given irregular abilities. But mutants….we were intentional. And _we_ are the next step in evolution!"

"Have at them!" Madame Rouge shouted out from the hallway, and the veined and Elephant Man-like patients charged out of the room. The former let out an enormous green substance from his mouth, and he shot it towards all the Vanguardians and M-Force members, sending them all flying a few feet away. The latter took a moment and let out a nasty growl before taking Cap and smashing him into the cement ground below twice and then proceeding to throw him towards Barry and Changeling.

Then everyone else in that room charged out and towards the group of heroes, while Magneto decided to finally show the meaning behind his codename. He held out his hand, and out came some of the metal bars from the room, which he launched towards each Vanguardian and M-Force member, grinning as he did so.

Madame Rouge showed off her powers as well, stretching her arm out and roping up Carol and Barry. Both grimaced and gritted her teeth.

"What the hell is all of this?!" Carol shouted out as she tried to wiggle one of her arms out so that she could blast Rouge away. "What have you been doing?!"

"We've been experimenting on people with dormant mutant genes. We've been getting them to activate their genes and their powers."

The veined patient blasted more of his goo towards Hal and Jean, with the former creating a machine gun and firing green bullets in an attempt to drive the patient away. Jean began to move two of the metal bars with her mind and launched them all towards the patient's legs, sending him flying to the ground. But then one of the other patients turned into a gigantic tar monster and she encased both of them in several feet worth of tar.

Another patient's eyes turned pupiless and her fingers extended into an almost claw-like shape. Changeling turned into a gorilla to try and combat this patient, but he clawed the green hero twice and Changeling roared in agony. Another patient was shooting out fire from her right hand and ice from her left hand, and Storm and Negative Man were all encased in ice while Elasti-Girl was trying desperately to avoid her flames.

All the while, Madame Rouge was constricting Carol and Barry tighter and tigther. "You…you don't have to do this!" Barry shouted out. "You don't have to do any of this –"

"Don't bother, Flash." Carol interrupted. "You can't just talk people out so easily."

Barry sighed. "You're right. Now hold up. I'm gonna try and test out a new ability I've been practicing for a while."

Barry then closed his eyes and looked to be concentrating for a few seconds. "What exactly are you going to try and do?"

The Flash said nothing. And he didn't have to, for he basically answered her question a few moments later by vibrating out of Madame Rouge's grip, landing feet first onto the ground. He looked at Madame Rouge and super-sped towards her, decking her right in the face. Distracted, Madame Rouge accidentally let go of her grip on Carol as her stretched arm fell to the ground. Carol looked at Madame Rouge and shot out an energy blast towards her, then grabbed her by the head and slammed her into the wall, knocking her out.

Cap, meanwhile, saw Cyclops get thrown across the hall by a patient with no hair and sharp razor teeth, who only hissed and growled as he leapt towards the leader of the M-Force. Cap went to help Cyclops, even though he didn't necessarily like kid, only to end up barely dodging another steel bar thrown his eye. He turned around to see Magneto looking at him with a smirk.

"Even with that Super Soldier Serum, you're still but a man, Captain Rogers. A man who's way out of his league against the likes of mutants."

Cap looked at Magneto for a moment before responding. "It doesn't matter where we get out powers. We can still be on equal grounds, and the people can come to look at us both with grace and pride!"

Magneto let out a frustrated sigh and shook his head. "As I said, you're naïve. The public knows that you guys are just a bunch of people given extraordinary abilities. Everything else might been kept in the dark to them, but that is at least clear. And they also know that we mutants will come to replace him. That's the difference between you Vanguardians and us mutants, and humans are at least smart enough to see that, Rogers. Give it time, and mankind will bow before mutantkind."

Cap didn't say anything in response. He wanted to go on about how wrong Magneto was, but he also wanted to take out Magneto as soon as he possibly he could. He saw Changeling morph into a tiger and lunge towards the helmet-clad rogue, sending him down the ground and clawing him in the face. Cap followed suit, bashing Magneto in the chest with his shield as the latter tried to get up.

Changeling roared in his tiger form and bit Magneto in the sides, causing him to yell in pain. Magneto gritted his teeth and held his hand out as Changeling bit him in the leg. A pipe came flying out of the room and struck the green tiger right in the face. Magneto used the pipe to strike Changeling in the face repeatedly, and the latter could do nothing but be pushed away. Cap saw the wound on Magneto's side from where Changeling had bitten him, and proceeded to kick it, causing Magneto to scream in agony and the pipe to subsequently fall to the ground.

"Hey, Magneto!" Changeling yelled, reverting back to his default form. "When you experiment on mutants like this, do you really think you're any better than the worst humans out there?!"

"My actions are for a worthwhile cause!" Magneto yelled back, gritting his teeth as he did so.

Cyclops blasted towards Magento with his optic blasts, sending the latter towards the wall. "That's what a mad human scientist would say, too! Or even, God forbid, a Nazi"

"Do not compare me to those humans, _and do not compare me to a NAZI_!"

Cyclops shook his head and blasted at Magneto again, while Hal and Jean broke free from ghe grip of the tar mutant.

Hal created a giant hand and used it to slam the tar mutant towards the wall. "Don't do this! Don't let Magento get to you like this!" Hal pleaded.

Jean closed her eyes and extended her hand out. ' _Green Lantern is right. Magneto is just using you for his own ends. Please, stop all of this!'_

Most of the mutant patients ignored her, and Barry and Carol were sent flying towards the wall by the sharp toothed mutant that had attacked Changeling earlier while Elasti-Girl was forced to knock out the mutant that could shoot out both ice and fire by growing an extra ten feet, grabbing the patient by the leg, and bashing her into the ground several times.

"Get Magento's helmet off!" Jean shouted out.

Cap didn't know exactly what was so important about knocking Magneto's helmet, but he was sure there had to be a reason. So he bashed Magneto with his shield several times. He then punched him in the exposed part of his face, sending Magneto down to the ground. Cap wasted no time and grabbed Magneto's helmet off of him, throwing it down to the ground and thrusting his shield down towards it, causing the helmet to slice into pieces.

"Well, destroying it is even better." Jean stated.

Magneto felt his hair and glared at Cap. "You goddamned fool!" He stated out loud. " _Damnit, now, Jean will be able to channel my thoughts. Can't think about my feelings regarding the pati – damn!_ '

Unbeknowst to him or Cap, Jean had managed to channel all of that into the minds of the patients. ' _Do you see now?!'_ She stated into everyone's minds. ' _Why would he stop himself like that? Take a moment and let that sink in!'_

Most of the patients stopped to really think about it, unsure of what to do.

"If you truly care about mutantkind, you would realize that Magneto will bring nothing but harm to our race! He only wants to use you for his own ends! So go now, don't let him use you like this anymore, and do our race good!"

The mutant patients just stood there and looked around, pondering over what to do. ' _Damn, damn, damn, I gotta think of something to get them back on my side. My goals cannot be stopped…'_

In the end, Magneto was making a human error and letting emotion cloud his better judgement, for now Jean had channeled that thought into the minds of the mutants. And now the patients could see that they were just being used, so the tar mutant lunged towards Magneto and trapped his legs in a foot of tar.

"No! Don't do this! I am your savior!" Magento tried to shout out, but it was too late. He felt ice and fire both being shot against him, and the sharp toothed mutant was now clawing at him. Storm and Negative Man joined in on the fight, with Storm sending out lighting bolts and Negative Man generating heat waves and shooting them all out towards him, while Cap, Hal, Barry, and Carol just stood there and watched.

"Well…this was certainly something…" Was all that Cap could spit out as Magneto continued to be attacked by his patients until he finally collapsed onto the ground.

He breathed very heavily. "I admit…I may have gone a little far in this particular endeavor…nothing stings more than being compared to a Nazi…but hopefully…you will all see that this planet is mutantkind's for the taking…" He said, before Cyclops kicked him in the face, knocking him out.

* * *

Cap, Hal, Carol, and Barry were now in the 'M-Mansion' the headquarters of the M-Force. The interior looked like it was ripped right of the early half of the 20th Century, which Cap didn't mind at all. It reminded him of his home era.

"The Professor and Niles will be down to see you in just a few moments." Negative Man said to the four before walking off with Storm.

Cap looked up at the chandelier that was hung directly above them, and then at the countless bookcases that hid the walls of the M-Mansion. Cap jokingly wondered to himself if this was another Library of Congress with the sheer amount of books he saw across the room.

Then a blue hairy man with a cat-like face and a yellow robot with red eyes came walking up to the four, and Cap assumed them to be Charles Xavier and Niles Caulder.

"I just want to say it's an honor to have members of the Vanguard in our manor." The blue haired man said, to which Cap smiled.

"The pleasure's all ours. You two must be Charles and Niles."

The robot laughed. "Oh, no, no, no. My name is Cliff Steele, and the furball is Hank McCoy."

" _Doctor_ Hank McCoy." The 'furball' corrected.

"Yeah, whatever. Point is, we're happy to have you here."

"Thanks, thanks." But then Cap took a good look at Cliff, and let his nature sink in. "So wait…you're a robot, so why are you on this team?"

"He's an ally of all mutants. As am I." A voice answered from behind Cliff and McCoy, who stepped aside to reveal two men, who both approached the Vanguardians. One was a bald man in a grey suit and black tie, and bound to a wheelchair. The other was a redheaded and thickly bearded man, in a green tux. The looked at the Vanguardians with smiles. "My name is Niles Caulder," The bearded man said.

"And I am Charles Xavier. Thank you for your help in taking down the Brotherhood. Magneto and his lackies are now in S.H.I.E.L.D. custody.

' _Right. Bastards alongside bastards._ ' Hal thought to himself, still distrusting S.H.I.E.L.D.

"I will admit, Lantern, that I have my own problems with Director Fury and his allegiants." Charles stated, which made Cap furrow an eyebrow; he did not realize that Charles was a telepath, just like Jean. "I do hope that they are not doing ethically immoral things to Erik, but I'm also happy that he is not on the streets, worsening relations between humans and mutants."

"It's a shame things are the way they are." Cap said, offering his sympathies. "I never agreed with the rampant predjuice from my own time. And now, even here, there's still a minority subject to hate. Even after 70 years."

"Yes, it's a damn shame." Niles lamented, looking down at the ground. "And there's some controversy over this little teamup of ours."

Hal shook his head. "No worries." Everything has some controversy to it these days."

"We're still happy nonetheless, to see the Vanguard on our side like this."

Cap nodded. "Yes. I will not stand by as a group of people are treated unfairly. I won't have it."

"None of us will," Hal added on. "And trust me, Superman will make that very clear to the public tomorrow. The Vanguard of Justice is on your side, Professor."

"I know he will. I'll be there with him. Thank you all for standing by us."

Charles held out his hand towards Cap, who stood there for a moment before shaking his hand back to show that yes, the Vanguard of Justice would stand by all mutants.


	13. This Looks Like A Job For Superman

Clark was able to publish the story about how the Vanguard and the M-Force teamed up to take down Magneto and save those that he was experimenting on, and he did feel a little bad for not being able to help out, though he had matters to attend with the press conference and its aftermath.

He sat there, in his office at the Daily Planet. It was a standard cubicle office, and Clark sat there and looked at the photo of his adoptive parents, Jonathan and Martha Kent. He truly was grateful that it was them that found him when he crashed onto Earth from Krypton; he didn't distrust the government as much as some other people did, but even he couldn't deny that they wouldn't have given him the same compassion and kindness.

"Hey, Kent. You act as if they're paying you to stare into space all the time." A voice came from behind, and Clark looked up from his desk to see that was Lois. She smirked and stared at him while sipping some coffee from her cup.

Clark decided to roll along with what Lois said. "Well, they might as well be. The Internet's killing us, Lois." He joked. He spoke with a Midwestern accent, as opposed to the Northeastern voice he took on as Superman. He used that to help keep his dual lives separate.

"Jesus, ain't that the truth!" Lois laughed out loud, and Clark took a good look at her complexion, only to try and look away when she made perfect eye contact. There was a brief pause in their conversation before Lois spoke again. "And I'm about to take my lunch break, so I just came by to say, how dare you beat me to that scoop on the Vanguard and M-Force's team-up! You steal enough stories!

Clark shook his head. He could tell from the tone in Lois' voice that she was genuinely salty about it, but that she was just teasing around a little as well. "Well, Lois, you got that scoop on the press conference…and…" He felt a little weird saying this, given that he was there himself as Superman. "…It was definitely a juicy story."

"Oh, tell me about it. I still can't believe King T'Challa's bullshit." She shook her head before changing her tone to that of a mocking one. "'Ugh, I just don't have the balls to stand up to the Elders of Wakanda' – yeah, what a damn load right there."

Clark looked down at the ground for a moment before looking back up at Lois. "Well…I think you could cut Black Panther a little slack, Lois. I mean, even if his country's customs and traditions are a little dated, you can't just treat them with disrespect."

Lois rolled her eyes. "God, Clark, you sound just like Jimmy and Perry. Though I will admit, it's a little _less_ annoying coming from you."

Clark furrowed his eyebrow. "Am I supposed to take that as a compliment?"

"Oh don't get me wrong, farm boy. It's still well worth the eye roll. It's just that Jimmy and Perry both sounded whinier about it."

Clark chuckled. "Well, they're not entirely wrong."

"Yeah, whatever." Lois found herself staring at the wall for a brief moment before looking back at Clark. "Say, we should totally do a lunch break together sometime. With _you_ , it'd probably be interesting."

"I'm sure it would be, Lois. But I actually gotta go on my own lunch break right now. I already had some stops I planned to make along the way."

"Yeah. That stuff you always say you do around lunch break. Godspeed, Clark."

With that, Clark walked away and scoured the offices and hallways of the _Daily Planet_ before finding the elevator. To his luck, there was no one else in the elevator. He began unbuttoning his shirt to look at the 'S' logo on his chest, he was wearing his Superman outfit under normal attire….but then remembered that the _Daily Planet_ had security cameras for the elevators, and decided that it would be most unwise to do such a thing.

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Clark didn't have that large a metabolism to begin with, so he liked to use his lunch breaks to briefly sour the city of Metropolis as Superman to check up on any crimes that could be going on. Sometimes, this would lead to battles that would go past Clark's time for lunch, but he would just say that he was trying to observe Superman's battles so that he would have a story to tell.

Superman was a little worried that Perry would eventually catch on, but he seemed to enjoy the Superman stories, for they helped sell papers. And God knows they need anything to sell papers in this day and age, as he had joked about with Lois.

He scoured the city. Metropolis' crime rate had never been anything like New York or Gotham's, and it had declined even more sharply since 'the Superman' first flew into the sky and stopped an airplane from crashing into a bridge. Still, in addition to the supervillains whose battles Superman frequented, there was the occasional mugger and bank robber who still tried to make an illegal buck in this town.

That's what Superman preferred to see in his lunch breaks, and he thought about that as he flew around the buildings and skyscrapers to look out for Metropolis and its mammoth population of 12 million people.

He paid particular attention to the many banks of Metropolis, though he knew that crime could happen anywhere in any form. He then flew passed a Wells Fargo…and police cars on their way, not too far.

Superman looked around to see what the crisis was, and if there was enough time for him to come in and help. He could then hear a gunshot, and it came from the Wells Fargo, so he zoomed over towards the scene as fast as he could.

He used his X-Ray vision to peak into the Wells Fargo bank and saw two robbers, both men in dark suits with animal masks on to try and conceal their identity. Now he knew what all was going on. He slammed the door, and the situation just…came to a halt. The two robbers both just stood there and looked at Superman, with one of them jumping up in apparent excitement a few moments later – to Superman's complete confusion.

"YES! IT WORKED! WE MET SUPERMAN!"

Superman's jaw dropped and looked around at the massive crowd of people – some looked terrified, and others just confused at what the robber had just sad, but Superman felt great annoyance. He couldn't believe what he had just heard. "You mean to tell me you shot up a bank and made all these innocent people scared that this could be the last day of their lives just so you could _meet me_?"

The same robber shrugged. "It was the easiest way to meet you, sir."

Superman just sighed. "…This is not the way to meet your idols, gentlemen."

"Well, it worked. So worth it!" The robber said, before high fiving his partner-in-crime.

Police sirens could be heard from outside, and police officers stormed into the bank. "Hands up in the air!" One of the officers shouted to the robbers, who obliged.

As Superman watched the cops arrest the two robbers and read them their Miranda Rights, he shook his head and sighed.

* * *

His lunch break was halfway through now, and Superman continued to zoom around Metropolis to check up on any more crime -while hoping that no more people would pull the stunt that those two robbers acted on.

And that had not happened, thankfully. All he had done since then is put a stop to two separate muggers, on opposite sides of Metropolis no less. There was no sign of a supervillain anywhere, which allowed Superman to stop and think about Captain America.

He still couldn't believe it. The Man of Steel still could not believe that the great Captain America, leader of the Liberty Brigade and champion of the American people, was alive and well, and a member of the Vanguard of Justice. Superman smiled at the thought. He just couldn't help himself. He loved reading stories of Captain America's war days and battles; they were his favorite thing to learn about in history class. He never got a single question about Captain America wrong in any quiz, and he would've been ashamed of himself if that ever did happen.

Superman truly hoped to become close with Captain America. He didn't want to creep out the Captain with his admiration, but it was still an enormous honor, and he was sure that the other Vanguardians were joking about all of this behind their backs.

' _Let them._ ' Superman thought to himself. He didn't really care.

He then stopped to wonder about Hydra. There had not been a single peep from them since Doctor Light and Grim Reaper's attack on the S.T.A.R. Labs base in New York. And this worried Superman. He wondered what they could've gotten accomplished while the entire Vanguard was busy traveling to Atlantis and overthrowing its tyrant of a leader.

' _Speak of the devil._ ' He thought. He was just passing by Metropolis' own S.T.A.R. Labs base, and he decided to hear out for any potential crimes coming from there specifically.

Superman was unsure if it would be in Hydra's best interests to attack another S.T.A.R. Labs base, but there was no way he could be speak for sure. After all, how was he supposed to know what Hydra's ultimate plan was? There were a multitude of reasons why they could've attacked New York's base, and Superman was sure that there were more reasons that he just wasn't really thinking of.

He was at the very edge of Metropolis now, with the Interstate well in sight. It had been a relatively peaceful day in the city. At the very least, it was levels that Gotham would never see. But Superman had thought it…and many of Gotham's walls and buildings were encased in lead, which was the _one_ thing that the Man of Steel could not see through. Superman thought of just going back to the Daily Planet, but he stopped himself by thinking about how anything could happen at any time.

And then he heard it. A strange, distorted sound.

The closest thing he could think to compare it to was that of a drilling sound, but it didn't…it didn't sound right. Superman took a moment to briefly check and pay attention to what direction the sound was coming from.

It was coming from out west, so he flew onwards. The sound kept getting louder and louder, and as it increased in volume, it would increase in distortion as well. Superman had absolutely no idea what this sound could be. He had never heard any machine like this. Superman knew that it couldn't just be any organization behind whatever this sound was. He listed out possible candidates in his head – the US Government, S.H.I.E.L.D., S.W.O.R.D., S.T.A.R. Labs…and Hydra. Part of him hoped that it was Hydra so that he and the Vanguard could hopefully learn what their ultimate plan was, but he couldn't rule out the other possibilities as to who it could be.

After about a minute, he had finally flown to where the sound seemed to be coming from, and his eyes widened when he saw Fort Siegel, the military base located not too far from Metropolis.

' _Oh no._ ' Superman thought to himself. He zoomed down into the forest nearby to avoid being spotted by the military. So it was the military behind the noise, it seemed. Except…something didn't seem right. He flew up to take a quick peak at Fort Siegel once more, and saw business going along as usual. He flew back down into the forest, and thought about it.

Whatever that sound was, it was coming from underground.

Superman was unsure of what to do. It didn't feel right to just assume that the military was behind this, even though this sound was emanating from directly underneath one of their bases. Superman had a hunch that someone else was behind this, and that the military was completely oblivious as to what was going on.

Superman looked down at the grassy ground below him and sighed before deciding to use his super hearing to see if he could detect any other sounds, or even voices, from right around where this drilling sound was coming from.

He tried to concentrate and listen in as best as he could, but he heard nothing other than the drilling sound, which was getting louder and more distorted. Superman tried to the full extent of his abilities, but he could hear nothing.

But then, he finally picked up a voice.

" _This is all going swimmingly, Jensen. Baron Krieger will be pleased._ " The voice, that of a deep-sounding male, said.

Krieger. That name made Superman think of Albrecht Krieger, one of Hydra's elite soldiers during the days of World War II. Of course, he had to consider that there was more than one Krieger in the world, but he also couldn't rule out the possibility that this could be a descendant of Krieger's that they were referring to. Or even Albrecht Krieger himself.

" _Yes, this should make Krieger happy after our failure at the S.T.A.R. Labs._ " Another voice spouted out. This one was even deeper, to the point where it didn't even sound like a human talking. It almost sounded like a demon right of hell.

Now that, that was pretty damning. Superman was absolutely confident that whatever this sound was, Hydra was behind it. And whatever Hydra was doing, it couldn't have been anything good.

He began to punch his way into the ground, thinking to himself that he could help replant this ground after he was finished vanquishing Hydra's latest scheme. As he punched his way into the soil of the Earth, the sound was getting louder, and Superman could tell that he still had to go a further west.

He began to destroy the soil with his heat vision, and used it to zoom past the ruined dirt as the drilling sound got louder and louder. Now it was at a point where he would've been able to hear it even if he didn't have the ability of super hearing. He punched the dirt one more time, and he could see it all.

Superman saw several tanks, which looked like significantly more sleek versions of the ones that Hydra had used back in the war. He saw a large legion of Hydra soldiers, who all stopped what they were doing and looked up at the superhero levitating above them. There were only two figures that stuck out. One was a large man donned in black tactical gear, with a black mask that turned white around the eyes where said eyes were visible. The other must've been where the demonic voice came from, because it was not a man. It was a gigantic purple-pink skinned creature, with pupiless yellow eyes, razor sharp teeth, and veins sticking out from around its body.

"It's Superman!"

"What do we do?!"

"Shit!"

"What do we do, Crossbones?!"

The soldier who spouted the final cry of panic looked towards the man in the tactical gear, so Superman deduced that that was Crossbones. And Crossbones did not look too worried in the slightest.

"Take it easy, soldiers. Krieger and I were prepared for this. That is why the Parasite is here."

Superman narrowed his eyes. "What are you planning?!"

Crossbones. "Now why on Earth would we tell you that? Parasite, take care of him!"

Parasite let out a deafening roar before lunging high up in the air, toward Superman. Superman began to charge towards this creature, but he overpowered him and grabbed him by the throat, bolting towards the dirt wall. Parasite had his hand stuck into the wall and he looked at Superman again, and the latter had felt a sudden drain of energy. He had no clue where that came from – at least until Parasite unleashed heat vision upon Superman, forcing him down the ground.

Superman looked up to see Hydra soldiers, Crossbones included, all aiming their weapons towards him. Before he could react to that, Parasite jumped down to the ground, and purple energy cackled from him before he sent out freeze breath towards Superman, freezing him in place.

Whatever this creature was, it could absorb his powers. This was not something Superman had anticipated.

' _Oh, boy..._ '


	14. A Nasty Surprise

Parasite roared once more and grabbed Superman by the leg, slamming him down onto the ground.

"We anticipated your arrival, Superman!" the pink creature said as he grabbed Superman by his hair and smashed his face into the ground one more time.

Superman gritted his teeth. He tried to devise a strategy. He couldn't just use his powers willy nilly, because of Parasite's own abilities. He had to try something else. Superman thought that perhaps his sheer super strength could take Parasite down. He didn't want to resort to brute force, but it was his best bet.

Crossbones and a legion of HYDRA soldiers circled around Superman and Parasite, with the soldiers all aiming their guns towards Superman.

"I know what's probably going on in your head, Superman. Why on Earth would we be aiming all our guns towards the _Man of Steel_ ," Crossbones chuckeld, "And I admit, that would be amazingly stupid under normal circumstances."

Superman tried to break free from Parasite's grip, only for Parasite to _tighten_ his grip on him, shooting out heat vision towards his back. Superman yelled in pain. ' _So this is what it feels like_.' He thought to himself, now knowing how his heat vision could actually feel.

"But I can see it in your face. You know these aren't normal circumstances."

Crossbones then pulled out a green, illuminating shard. Superman recognized it right away. It was Kryptonite, a radioactive remnant of his planet that was deadly towards him.

Crossbones took the shard of kryptonite and stabbed Superman in the back with it, causing the Man of Steel to let out a horrible cry of agony.

Crossbones chuckled once more. "Shoot at him."

The HYDRA soldiers obeyed the command of their superior and began to open fire upon Superman. With shard of Kryptonite in his back, Superman's endurance and physiology had been weakened, and the bullets…he could feel them pierce his skin. For the first time in his life, he could actually _feel_ the power of a bullet.

It hurt. It hurt real bad.

This was still not enough to kill him, but it was enough to weaken him greatly. He needed to contact the rest of the Vanguard, and fast, but it was hard to do that when Parasite used his freeze breath to freeze him in place.

Superman was still aware and conscious, but he couldn't so much as blink. He was only frozen for a brief moment, as Parasite quickly smashed the ice, freeing him. Parasite grabbed Superman's bleeding body and used his heatvision directly against Superman's face…and Superman had to count himself real lucky. He knew that if he was any weaker than he already was, that heat vision would've completely destroyed his face, with not even a single drop of blood left behind.

He had to contact the Vanguard. That was all he had to do. J'onn and Hulk at the least couldn't be far, as New York City wasn't that far away from Metropolis. He just needed an opportunity, but he was getting no such window.

Superman fell to the ground, and Crossbones smirked underneath his mask before grabbing Superman by his hair and aiming his revolver owards the Man of Steel's forehead.

"Look at me, killing a nigh-invulnerable alien. Never thought I'd do _that_ growing up." Crossbones lamented to himself.

But Superman still had some of his super strength left in him. The Kryptonite was draining his powers and strength fast, but he could still break free. He still had a chance to headbutt Crossbones right in the face and then fly away. And that is exactly what he did.

He was flying at much slower speeds than he was used to traveling at, and he was truly pushing himself beyond what he should be doing, with his body in this kind of condition. But he would not let HYDRA win. HYDRA would never see any victory while Superman drew breath.

He pressed into his ear comm, trying desperately to avoid the gunfire of the soldiers, as well as Parasite, which became harder and harder to do while his super speed began to lessen.

"This is Superman contacting the Vanguard of Justice. I am directly below Fort Siegel, and have been badly injured by Hydra's forces. I repeat, I am directly below Fort Siegel and have been badly injured by Hydra's forces. I need the aid of any available Vanguardians! I repeat, I need the aid of any available Vanguardians!"

He heard Parasite roar behind him, and the monster was picking up speed fast. Faster than Superman could hope to outfly. Parasite eventually unleashed his heat-vision onto Superman, sending the Man of Tomorrow down to the ground. Superman yelled in pain, for this was an excruciating state. The heat-vision keep coming, and it was becoming more unbearable by the second.

"Don't kill him, Raymond!" Crossbones yelled to Parasite, who growled as he looked towards Crossbones. "I want to be the one to kill the great Superman!"

That did not stop Parasite from roughing up Superman further, punching him in the chest three times. Superman began to feel ungodly disoriented – he could no longer fly away; his lack of focus and direction would send him back down to the ground a millisecond later. He truly hoped the Flash, or Thor, or any Vanguardian with super speed would come as soon as possible, because he did not have much time left.

His vision was beginning to blur, but he could make out Crossbones standing before him; the revolver he had been carrying earlier was now in one of his pockets, and Crossbones had in his hands an assault rifle.

"Farewell, Superman. Your head will look fantastic on a plaque."

Superman didn't know what to do. He couldn't let Hydra win…but there was nothing he could do. He was far too weak to fight back, or even stand. The kryptonite had finally overwhelmed him. All he could was groan as Crossbones aimed his assault rifle towards him, ready to take out Superman – permanently.

But then ants began to crawl up on Crossbones. His excitement turned to confusion, and Crossbones began to yell as an army of ants swarmed up on him. Superman looked around, and saw millions of ants crawling up on the scene, all swarming up to the Hydra soldiers. They were even crawling up on Parasite, who looked merely annoyed by the sight of the insects. He swung a good chunk of them away with his arm, only for many more to crawl up on Parasite. He roared loudly, but that did not deter the ants in the slightest.

Superman knew this to be the work of Pym, but he couldn't see the Ant-Man anyway. Superman used what little energies he had left to use his X-ray vision and try to find Pym, but there was no sign of him.

Then there was a massive bursting sound, and Superman saw Thor smashing his way towards the scene, with Martian Manhunter and Wonder Woman following behind. Hydra soldiers began to fire upon them, but their bullets did nothing to the three. Thor slammed his hammer towards three of the soldiers, who were all sent back against the wall, while Martian Manhunter used his tangibility abilities to allow the bullets to basically phase through him before attacking the soldiers as well. Wonder Woman deflected the bullets with her bracelets, then used her lasso to rope a group of five soldiers. She brought the rope closer to her, and bashed her head into those of the soldiers', knocking them all out.

Superman truly wished he could help, but there was nothing he could do. All he was able to do at the moment was breathe heavily as blood poured its way out of its body. He saw Parasite roaring before charging towards Thor, who shot lightning out of Mjlonir and towards Parasite, who was sent flying a few feet away. He and Martian Manhunter flew towards Parasite and began to try and pummel the creature while Wonder Woman focused her energies on dealing with the soldiers.

Everything began to turn black for Superman, but he could just barely make out Parasite grabbing Thor by the neck and throwing him towards the dirt walls before Martian Manhunter gave the creature an upper deck. Superman saw nothing else, for that was when everything finally went to black.

* * *

Superman had no idea how much time had passed when he finally began to awaken. He found himself in the Vanguard Tower's medical room, and in the exact spot where Cap woke up from those seven decades in the ice. While his vision was still a bit blurry, he could tell that Batman, Cap, Wonder Woman, Manhunter, Thor, and Ant-Man were all in the room, looking down at him while Superman leaned up, placing his hand on his forehead.

"He's back with us!" Hank yelled towards the others.

"You're very lucky to be alive, Clark." Batman added on, in that same tone he always used. "If you had shown up so much as seconds later, that kryptonite would've killed you."

Cap held his hands up. "So let me see if I got this straight, Clark. Bits of your home planet came down with you to Earth, and they're radioactive, and they're deadly to you."

Superman felt too weak to say anything, so he only nodded.

"They're deadly to you as well, Steve." Wonder Woman said. Cap felt weird having to slightly look up to make eye contact with her. "Researchers have found that longterm exposure to kryptonite can give humans cancer. But it's _much_ deadlier to Superman."

"…Right." Was all Cap could reply with, as he looked at Superman's healing body. The Man of Steel still looked incredibly weak, and he groaned in pain, to which Cap sighed.

"Wha…what became of Parasite and Hydra's forces?" Superman asked, feeling bad that he wasn't able to help J'onn, Diana, and Thor.

"Rumlow, Jensen, and their little army have all been taken care of." Hank answered.

Superman furrowed his eyebrow. "Rumlow and Jensen?"

"Oh, right. That dude in the mask was Brock Rumlow, and the Parasite creature was Raymond Maxwell Jensen."

Thor laughed. "They were mighty warriors, but I'm mightier. As are Diana and J'onn."

"Hey now, Thor. My new invention helped. See, Superman, I've been working on a device that allows me to control ants from afar. Worked pretty well in saving you."

"…Right, right."

"How are you feeling, Clark?" Manhunter asked in a concerned tone.

"Better. I still feel a little crappy, but I'm doing better."

"That's good." Batman replied before Manhunter could. "And before you ask, Crossbones and Parasite are in S.H.I.E.L.D custody."

Superman chuckled. "I imagine Stark and Jordan aren't happy over that. They would sooner rot in hell than have anything to do with Fury."

Batman nodded. "Well, speaking of Stark, I must go to attend a party with him." And with that, the Dark Knight walked out of the room.

Superman still felt it – the overwhelming sense of shame in himself. He didn't know what to do. But then he looked at Cap.

Cap. Superman felt that he could confide his feelings towards Captain America. He figured that would be the easiest and most comfortable route to take.

"May…may you give me and Cap a moment?" Superman said to Wonder Woman, Thor, Manhunter, and Pym.

They all looked at each other and nodded before taking off, leaving only Superman and Cap in the room. Cap, for his part, found himself very confused. Why did Superman want just him in the room? It wasn't like they were the best of friends – they hadn't known each other that long.

"Erm…Clark?"

"I'm sorry."

Cap titled his head. This just got even more confusing. "…What?"

"I just…I feel bad about what happened."

Cap thought about it for a moment, but then he felt he finally figured it out. "You feel bad about losing most of your strength?"

"…Yeah. Yeah, I do. I just…Hydra almost won against me. And who knows what they would've achieved had I not managed to contact the rest of you. For all we know, the whole world could've suffered if they won. I feel I underestimated them."

Cap shook his head. "Look, Supes….how were you supposed to know about Parasite, or the kryptonite? The Bruces told me that kryptonite is rare, so the odds of them obtaining any were slim."

"I know. I get that. I guess….I just can't believe how close Hydra came to winning. I just can't."

"Well, what's important is that we got to them in time, Clark. Whatever Hydra was planning, we stopped them. Look, Clark, there's one thing, I learned in the war: Stuff can get messy. Things can go horribly wrong. There are some things you just can't anticipate."

Superman let out a small smile. "Thanks. I needed to hear that. But I still have that feeling inside me."

"Well, that's something I learned before the war. Emotions can be difficult. Really, really difficult."

"You can say that again."

Cap and Superman looked at each other, with a brief pause, before Cap spoke again. "Just remember my advice, Clark. It applies to everyone. Even Batman."

Cap had only been around a short while and he had already heard the stories about how Batman was apparently crazy prepared to deal with any situation, something he could personally not buy into.

"Let's just hope Batman remembers that." Superman replied.

They kept conversing, and Cap couldn't help but think about how much President Roosevelt would've loved having Superman around.


	15. Tricksters

***beep, beep, beeeeeeeeeep***

 **Me: Clear! *zap* It lives! IT LIVVVVVVEEESS!**

 **Oooookay jokes aside, since it's been so long since I last updated, I should probably explain why it's been so long: I actually was all set to begin writing and posting this story in a nice, orderly fashion...and then I got into a car accident in October, which completely threw me off; I was already busy with college and everything, but after the accident, I just couldn't find the time AND energy to write at the same time. Hopefully, I can finally begin writing in a more orderly fashion, but at least one of my professors is trying to make me die of stress, so we shall have to see. I should at least get some more chapters uploaded before the end of the month. With that out of the way, enioy!**

* * *

The past few days had been surprisingly peaceful in Gotham, New Jersey. Gotham was one of the most infamous cities in all of America, and rightfully so. Its crime rate was off the charts, and the corruption of the cops and the politicians had basically become common knowledge long ago by this point. And then there were the supervillains. They were popping up prominently in Coast City, Metropolis, and New York as well, but from 'Two-Face' to 'Killer Croc' to 'The Joker', Gotham had a large and colorful army of rogues tearing the city apart nearly daily. But the past few days saw a level of peace that the city hadn't seen in a long time.

And no one hoped to jinx it.

A young man, looking to his early twenties, walked up to one of the bankers at the bank near his apartment. All he needed was to withdraw some money from his account and then he'd be on his way out.

"How can I help you?" the banker, a middle-aged Latino woman, asked him.

"Um, yeah, can I just get $40 out from my checkings?"

"No problem at all." The banker replied. "Just swipe your card down below."

The man looked at the thing and began to swipe…only to take back the card when he heard screams coming from outside.

Everything at the bank came to a halt as everyone turned around to hear the screaming. The screams began to get louder, and it sounded like more and more people were losing their shit every second.

The person closest to the front doors, a balding elderly man, opened said doors to find out what the hell was going on.

There were loads and loads of people running, just as he had expected to say. But he was taken completely aback when a green energy blasted across the area – and a few seconds later, the screaming came to an abrupt halt. And replacing it was laughter.

The old man had been caught in the blast, and so he began roaring with laughter as well. Everyone else in the bank, who had been spared from the green blast, just looked at the man with looks of utter bafflement on their faces. An elderly woman, presumably the man's wife, ran towards him and held his arm.

"Honey, what is going on?! What's going on?!" She cried out.

She wasn't the only one who wanted to know what the hell was going on. The entire bank did as well. There were murmurs and cries of panic abound, and finally, the lady looked out the window and saw…them. The Joker and Harley Quinn.

The Joker was a towering and lanky man, about 6'4 or 6'5, but that was the least noticeable thing about him when his hair was pure lime green and his skin was as white as a piece of chalk. He sported a sinister grin that sprang from one ear to the next, and he held a giant yellow staff in his hand. Harley meanwhile, donned a black and red clown jester suit with white makeup all across her face, and she bore a smile almost as wide and dastardly as the Joker's.

They were the most dangerous and feared criminals in all of Gotham, if not the entire country. Joker looked around at all the citizens in view, who were laughing manically it. He loved this. He relished in it.

A black-haired man in his early 40s grabbed Harley by her chest and laughed manically in her face. She pushed the man away and swung at him with her giant hammer, knocking him out.

The Joker did not acknowledge what had just happened. He instead continued to look straight ahead. "Look at them, Harley. Just…look at them all."

Harley chuckled. "It's wonderful, isn't it, Mistah J?'

"It sure is. It surre is."

Then police sirens could be heard, and Joker and Harley turned around to see five police cars arrive on the scene. They came to a halt, and about ten cops came out of the cars, every one of them armed and readied.

The Joker didn't look like he was taking this seriously in the least. He merely let out a hearty chuckle. "Ah, if it isn't the oh-so-pure law of Gotham!" He spattered out, with a tint of sarcasm as even he had to be aware of Gotham's rampant corruption.

"Fire!" One of the officers shouted out, and every police officer began shooting at the Joker. But all he did was wave his hand around, and each and every bullet disappeared in a spectacle of green flames.

The Joker shook his head. "I say, Harley, the cops sure do get a bad rep these days." He then proceeded to hold out his staff towards the policemen, who simply stared at him with stunned looks on their faces. "Let's cheer them up a little!"

He let out green blasts of fire against the officers, who simply stood there for a moment before they began to laugh maniacally.

"I must say, Harley, it's not every day a god breaks you out of jail and grants you magic. But that surely makes for a _fun day._ Why –"

"It sure does, puddin!"

The Joker's smile finally disappeared and he looked down at Harley with a scowl on his face. "Harley, I was not finished! Now, why don't you zip it and let me finish my damn sentence?!"

Harley sighed and looked down at the ground. "I'm sorry, Mistah J."

"You better be. As I was going to say before I was so rudely interrupted…why, I can just see Batsy charging over here alone and honestly thinking he can beat me alone! I can't wait for that. That'll be hilarious." Then the Joker looked around himself, curious. "Say now, where _is_ my dear Batman?"

His question was answered when, a few moments later, he saw the Batmobile roaring through the streets. "Ah, perfect. A little later than I would've liked, though. I'll make sure to scold him for his tardiness."

The Batmobile came to a quick stop, and Batman jumped out of his vehicle, looking at the Joker and Harley with his usual scowl.

"Ah, there you are, Batsy. You're late, you know! I am not one to accept tardiness!"

Batman did nothing to acknowledge what the Joker had just said. Instead, he simply grabbed out one of his Batarangs and flung it towards Joker's leg.

Joker, however, was undeterred, and simply pointed his staff towards the Batrang, causing the latter object to go up in the same green flames as the police officers' bullets.

"Ah, I see what you did there, Batman! Tried to take out my leg, you son of a bitch! But I'm afraid that just won't work! I have been granted extraordinary powers! Powers that have changed the game completely! Now, let's finally hear the Dark Knight laugh!"

The Joker grinned again and aimed towards Batman, letting out a green blast. Batman, however, pressed on the left side of his head, causing a black mouthguard to slide across his mouth, protecting the only exposed part of his body. He then proceeded to dodge the blast – barely.

"What is all this, Joker?!" Batman demanded to know, genuinely taken aback by the Joker's staff.

"Oh? You expect me to just waste time spilling all the details right here, right now? Batsy, you _are_ the World's Greatest Detective, are you not? Figure it out for yourself. Assuming you can dodge my staff for any –"

Before he could go on, he felt a Batarang rope swing around him, and he was now entrapped in Batman's batarang rope. Harley rushed over to break him free, but she found herself entrapped upon another rope moments later.

"The jig is up, Joker." Batman said, as he then began to charge towards the two clown-dressed rogues.

Joker shook his head. "You know, Batman, even you have your limits. You've never really fought a magical foe before – by yourself, I mean."

Before Batman knew it, the ropes both went up in green fire. Batman didn't want to admit it – he truly, _truly_ did not – but he was unprepared for the event that the Joker would equip himself with magical weapons. But he also had an ego to maintain. Part of him wanted to just contact the Vanguard for help, but most of him refused. The Joker was _his_ mess and _his_ problem to solve.

He decked the Joker in the face, but the blood that dripped off of Joker's mouth vanished quickly, which Batman chalked down to being the work of his magic. He did not know what to do.

But then, the clouds of Gotham began to darken. Batman, Joker, and Harley all simply looked up in the air, the latter two confused. Batman, however, had a solid idea of who was coming to town for a visit – and sure enough, it proved to be none other than Thor, who leapt down to the ground with all his might.

"Oh my." Was all the Joker said in response to the God of Thunder's arrival. "Looks like we have a special guest today."

"Thor!" Batman than yelled out, getting his divine ally to turn his head towards the Caped Crusader.

"Hello there, Batman. I've come to offer my aid."

"…Why, exactly?" Batman truly was confused as to why Thor just up and popped into his city.

Thor was quick to answer that question. "This staff your little nemesis wields…it is of Asgardian origin! I can tell by its design!" He pointed his hammer towards the Joker's golden staff, and the Joker's grin did not at all disappear with this revelation.

"Right you are, o' God of Thunder! Why, it was none other than your own brother, Loki, who broke me and my lady here out of prison and gave us this powerful staff!" Joker let out a sinister chuckle after finishing.

Thor narrowed his eyes and glared at the Joker. "For what purpose, exactly?"

Both he and Batman grew frustrated when the Joker simply shrugged. "I dunno. He literally just gave me this staff and told me to wreak havoc. And wreak havoc, I _shall_!"

The Joker pointed his staff towards Thor and blasted towards him, only for the God of Thunder to deflect it with his hammer. The skies, which had cleared out, darkened once more as Thor swung his hammer around. Joker's grin disappeared, replaced by a look of frustration, as he blasted towards Thor again. Thor dodged it again and levitated up in the air, with lightning roarirng down towards Mjlonir. The lighting stored itself into the hammer, and Thor brought down the lighting upon the Joker, sending him flying a few feet.

Batman wanted to take out the Joker, but he had realized that, as much as he considered the Joker his own problem, it was better to just let Thor take care of him. To that end, Batman charged towards Harley instead. Harley let out a grin.

"Hammer time, Batman!" She shouted out as she swung her giant hammer towards Batman. The Dark Knight wanted to roll his eyes at her words, but knew the better thing to do would be to just focus on taking Harley. He dodged Harley's hammer and decked her in the face, sending her back a couple feet. Harley's nose began to bleed, but this did not seem to deter her in the slightest, and she let out a war cry as she kicked Batman in the stomach, only for his suit's armor to ensure that Harley would be feeling more pain that he would.

Thor bashed the Joker around with his hammer, angry with the so-called 'Clown Prince of Crime' and his refusal to explain why Loki freed him and gave him that staff.

"Tell me, what else did Loki say to you, clown!" Thor angrily said, grabbing Joker by the neck and slamming him into a car, ignoring the property damage he had just caused.

"I've told you all that I know, Goldilocks. Now to get rid of you so I can be alone with Batman!"

Thor retained his grip on the Joker's throat, and began to fly up high into the air with the clown still in hand. The thunder and lighting in the skies began to intensify as Thor had grown tired of all of this, and once there were several hundred feet up in the air, Thor let go of the Joker. And as the Joker fell to the ground, Thor summoned up more lightning and launched it all towards the clown as he fell down to the ground and crashed onto the streets, a sight that Batman and Harely both stopped to look at for a second.

Thor levitated down to the ground, and saw the Joker struggle to get up, noticeably limping as he did so. The Joker, however, looked up at Thor and grinned, his staff still in hand.

"Huh…that totally should have killed me. But good thing it didn't."

Just then, Thor and Joker were forced to turn their heads as they saw blue beams of energy pop in, with the former knowing that they hailed from the Vanguard Tower's teleporter – and sure enough, out came Wonder Woman and Captain America teleported onto the streets of Gotham.

The Joker was now scowling. "Oh, come on! Just let me fight the Dork Knight on my own."

While this was happening, Batman was still battling Harley Quinn, who refused to go down. He had landed several blows to her, but after the latest punch, all she did was spit out a tooth before grinning and swinging at Batman with her hammer again.

While all of this was going on, a woman who looked to be in her early thirties and of Greek descent looked at all the commotion the Vanguard, the Joker, and Harley were causing.

She only smirked, and headed towards an alley, where a yellow light beamed over her, and her figure was replaced with that of a man. A handsome-looking man who sported green clothing with tints of yellow armor at the top, as well as a golden helmet with giant horns sticking out. 'She' was actually Loki, the God of Mischief.

"You are such a fool, dear brother." Loki muttered to himself before walking behind the building and reverting back to his woman disguise, smirking as he did so.


	16. The Crown in the Cave

Joker groaned as he looked at Thor, who narrowed his eyes and began swinging his hammer around. "Well, with this staff's whole Asgardian thing to it, I guess I shouldn't be surprised that you came charging along."

"Give up now, clown. By wielding Asgardian weaponry, you will face justice from us. And it won't be so easy to break out of the great and mighty Asgard, Joker!"

Joker merely chuckled. "Challenge accepted, Blondilocks. But I don't think I'll be –"

Before Joker could finish, he was suddenly bashed in the head by Wonder Woman, who then grabbed him by his green hair and bashed the back of his head. Joker couldn't help but yell in pain, for that hurt like pure and absolute hell.

"Mother of God, Wondy!"

Wonder Woman simply looked at Joker with a glare on her face. "Oh, that was nothing. Hercules would've done worse."

Joker pointed his staff towards Wonder Woman and shot at her, but the Amazon dodged the blast with her shield and caused the green energy to shoot right towards a street lamp, causing said lamp to crumble up into ash and fall to the ground. Joker sighed and shook his head, that smile still glued to his face.

"Well, if I'm stuck fighting you two _gods_ , I might as well have fun with it!" Joker said, before laughing again and charging towards the two.

While Thor and Wonder Woman were off fighting the Joker, Cap went to aid Batman in fighting Harley Quinn. He recognized that he would have no luck fighting against the Joker due to the godlike powers the latter had apparently gotten ahold of. Cap thought about the Joker and Harley for a brief moment as he readied himself to attack Harley. They were among the first names he had heard of upon being thawed out from the ice; they had been active for about as long as Batman, and they had amassed a _massive_ body count.

He found it funny that he was about to fight Joker and Harley now, since he and a couple of his teammates were discussing the duo yesterday. Janet had jokingly suggested that Batman could try to redeem Harley and train her to become a protégé, an idea that the Dark Knight was quite dismissive of.

Harley was trying to bash Batman around with her hammer, but he dodged every time before jumping onto the hood of a car and grabbing out one of his Batrangs towards her. It landed right onto the ground, and Harley smirked.

"Ya missed, Batsy?"

"No. I didn't."

Harley furrowed an eyebrow and looked down at the Batarang, which then exploded and let out a large amount of smoke towards the jester-suited woman. Harley began to cough, and Cap had realized that Batman had given deliberately given the Super Soldier an opportunity to take advantage of. He bashed Harley around with his shield, and she was unable to truly fight back at the moment. Cap kicked her out of the smoke area, but Harley was still coughing; Cap wasn't truly affected, something he could thank the Super Soldier Serum for.

"Jeez, Cap, could you lighten up a _little_?" Harley pleaded, and that was all she said before proceeding to cough some more.

"You're a fool if you think I'm just gonna give up now." Cap said before punching Harley in the leg and sweeping her towards the ground.

Harley placed her hands on her side and looked up at Cap, who had a determined look on his face. "I can do this all day."

And then he gave Harley a powerful uppercut to the chin, and she fell to the ground, unconscious.

Cap narrowed his eyes at Harley, wondering how she was able to put up with a man as insane as the Joker. But he decided not to worry about that now. He wanted to see if there was anything he and Batman could do to try and help Thor and Wonder Woman battle the Joker.

Meanwhile, Wonder Woman had grabbed Joker by the neck and lunged him towards her Asgardian ally, who began swinging around his hammer with a rather cold look on his face. One could tell from his expression that he was completely done with the Joker not giving him any answers. And so he bashed the Joker in the stomach with his hammer hard enough to send the Clown Prince of Crime crashing onto the ground below.

He then took a look at Wonder Woman. "Thank Odin for your Lasso of Truth. Looks like we're gonna have to use it on that foul creature!"

Wonder Woman nodded and pulled out her lasso, and the two levitated down towards the Joker, while Cap and Batman ran up to the scene as fast as they could.

Joker got up and cupped his chin in pain. But his look of discomfort morphed into a grin when he made eye contact with the Dark Knight. "Ah, there you are, dear Batman. I missed my favorite toy." Then he turned his head to acknowledge Captain America's presence. "And I suppose you can be one of those toys one plays with once or twice and then forget exists."

"You won't be doing any such thing, Joker." Wonder Woman retorted as she began swinging her lasso around.

The Joker tried to run, but his efforts were for naught, and the lasso met his hip. Wonder Woman then began to drag him towards her, and Thor stood there and watched while Cap and Batman walked up to their deity allies.

Wonder Woman stopped dragging the Joker around, and he groaned. And Thor's patience was getting any better, with his rage being made clear when he smashed up the staff that the Joker had been using for his latest reign of terror.

"These staffs are what you refer to as 'a dime a dozen'." Thor clarified to Cap and Batman, who looked a tad confused when the God of Thunder smashed up the staff.

Then he walked up to the Joker, who had given up on trying to break free from Wonder Woman's lasso. "Now," Thor said with barely restrained contempt. "…Now you have no choice but to reveal the location and plans of my brother. So tell me, clown! Where's Loki, and what is he planning?"

No one liked the Joker's answer. "I…don't…know."

Thor sighed. "So Loki merely used you to distract us. …This _is_ what he would do, really…"

"So what's our plan, now?" Cap asked, having absolutely no idea what they were going to do from here.

Thor shook his head. "My brother has always been very unpredictable. Who knows what he could be planning by now. We need to –"

"Oh my!" A voice suddenly shouted out from the crowd of people, and the four heroes turned around to see a morbidly obese man long hair, a smile that showed very poor teeth, and a shirt that was way too small walked up to them. "Wow, this is just amazing."

Wonder Woman let out a groan of irritation. "Sir, please leave. Now. The Vanguard is preoccupied at the moment. See yourself to safety."

"But this is so cool! This is just so cool!"

"We don't want to be rude, Midgardian, but this is not a safe area! Leave us to our work!"

Then all of a sudden, the man smirked. "Midgardian. You still have to call them by that, don't you, _brother_?"

Thor's eyes widened, as did Diana's. Cap, on the other hand, was completely confused as to what was going on. He soon got an answer, however, when the man morphed into Loki, the God of Mischief.

"Oh, how I've missed our quality time together, Thor."

"I shall have none of this, Loki!" Thot yelled out in rage, before going to swing towards his brother, who phased right through the hammer and let out a smirk.

"Oh, you thought I was actually here? You still underestimate me after all this time? My, oh my, Thor, this is why you are not worthy of Asgard's throne."

Batman had a scowl on his face, one even angrier than his usual look, and he walked up towards the illusion. "Why on _Earth_ did you give _the Joker_ magical abilities?"

Loki let out a sigh, one that Cap noted to sound genuine. "Ah, the Joker. Midgard's most infamous criminal….I don't like the Joker in the slightest, if I'm being honest." Once more, one could tell that Loki spoke the truth in his words. "I hate him, actually. He disgusts me. But he was the perfect man for the job. Two-Face or the Penguin, they would've been craftier, but I knew the Joker would make a scene right away, to attract his precious Batman."

"For what purpose, Loki?!" Batman demanded to know, with Cap being surprised; this was the first time he had heard the Dark Knight raise his voice.

"Why, as a distraction."

"For what purpose?" This time, it was Wonder Woman who began interrogating Loki.

Loki chuckled and shook his head. "Now, why would I tell you that?"

With that, the illusion disappeared.

"No! NO!" Thor yelled out in a fit of rage.

He looked down at the ground, and then slammed Mjlonir into a red Ferrari F60 to the horror of the person in the car. The man got out and looked at the damage.

"My…my CAR! Do you have any idea how much these cars cost?!"

"Worry not, citizen." Wonder Woman said in a calm tone, to try and reassure the man. "We'll pay for the damages. Or get you a new car."

Batman sighed and shook his head, and Cap didn't blame him; either he or Iron Man who would have to pay for the damages.

Thor then turned around and looked at both Cap and Batman. "Alright, you two deal stay put to help finish off the Joker. Diana and I will try to find my brother and stop whatever scheme he's pulling off."

Batman's eyes narrowed. "That will not be happening, Thor."

"But, Bru –"

"First of all, don't refer to me by that in public. Secondly, Loki has helped to terrorize _my_ city and he has used _my_ nemesis. I'm coming along, and I highly doubt Cap will want to miss any of this, either."

Now it was Thor who narrowed his eyes. "You are lucky I have compassion for humanity. The average Asgardian could wipe the floor with you in mere seconds if they so choose."

There was a brief moment of silence, and Batman did not acknowledge Thor's last statement. "Well, I may be a mere mortal man, but there is one way I can help you find your brother."

Batman then proceeded to pull out a tiny metallic object from his utility belt. Cap had no idea what it was; and he knew not to blame being behind by decades, for both Bruce Wayne and Tony Stark had developed technologies that most other humans couldn't have hoped to achieve.

"This is a device I built just a few weeks ago." Batman said, knowing that his comrades would try and ask what exactly that contraption was. "It can track energy signatures of magical and mystical origin." He then showed everyone the device's screen. "It measures the signatures by various shades of red. The deeper the red, the larger the signature."

Thor, Wonder Woman, and Cap all stopped to take a look at the screen on the device. And it showed a very deep shade of red, in what looked to only be a few miles away.

"Alright, so that's where Loki must be." Cap stated, ready to right. Batman was right: He didn't want to be left out of this, even if Loki was a god; he just wanted to make sure the innocent were properly protected.

"Ideally, yes. But over on this street is mostly woods and a lake…why would Loki be trying to hide there? Unless…unless…"

Then Batman's eyes widened, and he had a face of panic that Cap had never seen on his face before. Thor and Wonder Woman also looked taken aback, indicating that they had never seen Batman like this, either."

"He's found my secret entrance to the Batcave…." Batman almost whispered, as if he didn't want anyone to hear him.

But Cap could hear him fine, and he raised an eyebrow. The Batcave? He had barely come to know the Dark Knight, not really spending any time with him like he had with Hal, Barry, and Carol. Hell, as Cap thought about it, he had yet to have so much as a full conversation with Batman.

"Erm, what's the Batcave?" Cap asked as he raised his eyebrow.

"It's my base of operations. And I have more security measures and protocols than the damn _President_ has. I have no clue how Loki could've broken in. And what would he…."

Batman paused.

"What would he what?"

"…I know what Loki is after."

Wonder Woman, Thor, and Cap all looked at each other. "What exactly is he after?"

"No time to explain right now. We have to get moving. _Now_!"

Then, finally, the Joker broke his silence. "Oh, what? Forget about old me? I still have a trick or two up my slee –"

Wonder Woman didn't let him finish. She kicked him hard in the face and knocked him out, and then she returned eye contact with Batman, who nodded.

"Let's move!"

* * *

The Batcave was truly a sight to see. Built into the cave were several metal floors oThere sat the Batjets, the Batboats, and several backup Batmobiles. At the end of the Batcave was the Batcomputer, and its technological capabilities put Macs and PCs alike to shame. In-between the vehicles and the computers were various trophies of all sorts, from a statue of a green _Tyrannosaurus rex_ to a giant penny, it was a diverse and vast collection.

But Loki didn't care about all that. Alfred Pennyworth, the butler of Bruce Wayne, was tied up in front of one of the backup Batmobiles, and the God of Mischief had his eyes on a crown. This wasn't the golden crown one might initially picture. This crown was a dark skull with gigantic horns on its sides, and Loki needed to have it. He needed it bad.

Which caused some frustration for him when Thor came smashing through the Batcave, glaring at his brother.

Batman and Cap drove in via the Batmobile, while Wonder Woman flew in just as Thor did, albeit without causing any property damage to the Batcave.

Batman and Cap got out of the Batmobile, with the former glaring up at Thor, who levitated in the air. "Damnit, Thor! Every single thing in this cave cost me a fortune!" Batman yelled out.

"…Sorry." Thor replied in an uncharacteristically sheepish tone.

Loki shook his head, still irritated. "Thor, why must you _always_ get in the way of my plans!"

"Can it, Loki!" Cap replied back. "Evil hardly ever triumphs in the face of good."

Thor opened his mouth to speak to his brother, but Batman piped in before he could. " _How_ are you in my cave, and _why did you give the Joker magical powers?!_ "

Loki stood there silent for a moment, and Cap swore that Batman looked like he was about to let out a snarl. But then Loki spoke. "Dear, dear Batman…are you aware that you have the Crown of Surtur in your collection?"

Then Thor's eyes widened. "The…Crown…the Crown of Surtur?!"

Loki let out a smirk. "Yes, brother. Batman has one of the most powerful artifacts in all of the Nine Realms…alongside a giant penny and a dinosaur statue. Fascinating, isn't it?"

Thor turned his head to face Batman, looking at him in the eye with bafflement on his face. "…Batman….how in the name of Odin did you come across the Crown of Surtur?!"

Batman looked down at the ground. "I found it while on a business trip in Norway. Went to stop a massive gang of crooks, and they had that in their warehouse."

Loki began walking up to the four heroes, smirking and smiling about. "I will admit, it took me a long while to find this beauty, but once I did…well, all I had to do was try to get through your security, _Bruce_." Loki added emphasis on Batman's name to help drive in the point that he had figured out the Caped Crusader's secret identity. "But I will admit, you are rather smart for a human. You, Stark, and Lex Luthor stand out among these barbarians. I figured you'd come by and have some special defense against me. That's why I gave the Joker those powers. To distract you while I came by, outsmarted your security systems, and snatched Surtur's crown."

Thor then narrowed his eyes. "What good is the Crown of Surtur to you, Loki? I know it has great power, but how does that power suit you in any way?"

"….I have my reasons." Loki then let out a sigh. "Alright, let's get this battle over with, Thor. This is what, the twelth time we've battled each other now?"

Now Thor was the one smirking. "Yeah, that sounds about right. But this one won't take long –"

"You speak too soon, Odinson!" Loki yelled, before sending out yellow mystical blasts that sent the four heroes flying.

He then created fifteen copies of himself, meaning there were four Lokis for each one of the heroes. Cap tried to punch one of the Lokis in the face, but it went right through the illusion, and then the other three by him overwhelmed him and began punching and kicking him in the face, chest, and stomach multiple times. He was only able to try and bash one of them with his shield once before the four began pummeling him again – he could not understand why he couldn't hurt the illusions, but the illusions could hurt him. He could see that the same was happening with Batman – Batman tried to throw a batarang at one of the illusions, but it went right through him, and Batman was overwhelmed in the same way as Cap was. Then all of the Lokis let out the same unanimous and maniacal laughter.

One of the Lokis grabbed Wonder Woman's sword and tried to slash her with it, but she was able to dodge each time. She could not harm any of the Lokis either, however – all she could do was fly away from them and try to find the real one. Four of the Lokis were attacking Thor. Cap realized that he had to take a chance here, and he saw that one of the Lokis attacking Thor was beginning to tire. He threw his shield at that Loki, and it struck him.

"I found the real Loki!" Cap yelled.

The other heroes followed suit. Batman threw a batarang that, while missing Loki, distracted him so that Wonder Woman could deck him in the face, punch him in the stomach, and then knee him in the stomach. Finally, Thor swung his hammer and sent a massive bolt of lightning against Loki, sending him flying.

"Diana, give me your sword," Thor said, with Wonder Woman having managed to reclaim her sword.

Wonder Woman raised an eyebrow. "Erm…alright…" she said, before handing him her sword. As Loki tried to get up, Thor took the sword and stabbed Loki in the kneecap with it.

"Arrrrrrgh! What the hell was that, brother?!" Loki yelled, and Cap, Batman, and Wonder Woman all had their mouths go agape.

"It's so you can't think of doing anything else, brother,"

"But right in the kneecap?" Wonder Woman asked.

Thor turned around and faced Wonder Woman. "It was the first thing that came to mind," he replied with as his answer. "And besides, I have more important matters to worry about on my mind…like the fact that Batman had the Crown of Surtur –"

Cap raised his finger. "Okay, sorry for interrupting, but who the heck is Surtur?"

Thor turned to face Cap, taking a moment to swing his hammer. "Well, for basic context, there are nine realms connected by this thing called Yggdrassil, the Tree of Life. Earth is one of these realms, albeit we call it Midgard, and so is my world of Asgard…and one of these realms is Muspelheim. It is a realm of fire, and it is ruled by a being known as Surtur. Surtur is one of the most powerful and feared beings in all the nine realms. No one would think to mess with him." Then there was a brief pause. "Well, except Darkseid and Thanos…"

"Darkseid and Thanos are other stories entirely," Wonder Woman interjected, her arms crossed.

"I know what you're going to ask, Thor," Batman piped in, as it was clear that Thor had finished, "And I just want you to know that I was aware of the being of Surtur. I read up on Norse mythology the day you first popped up in New Mexico."

"Fair enough," Thor stated. "…But now we're going to need a new place to keep this Crown. Excuse me a moment."

Thor then proceeded to slam Loki right in the face with Mjlonir, knocking him out. "There. Now he won't hear. But now Surtur is on the priority list, my fellow Vanguardians. We can take Loki to a special prison and interrogate him on why he came for the Crown – and what it means for all of the Nine Realms."

Cap felt a tad daunted, but his determination would eclipse that in a heartbeat. He would be ready for this Surtur, no matter what.

Then they heard murming, and they all turned their attention to one of the backup Batmobiles. Batman ran to it and opened the door, seeing Alfred tied up inside. He lifted his butler out of there and cut the ropes with his batarangs.

Alfred breathed heavily. "Why thank you, Master Bruce. I was worried you'd forget about me."

"Alfred, when have I ever been forgettable?"

"When was the last time you remembered to make your own lunch whenever I go on vacation?"

Batman threw his arms up. "Alfred, this is different –"

"Relax, relax, Master Bruce," Alfred interrupted, his face completely deadpan. I was trying to lighten things up before you brood and work yourself to death again trying to upgrade our security."

And to that, Cap couldn't help but smile.


	17. Dr Pym's Rubbish

Superman tapped his fingers onto the table, and Cap could tell that he was getting impatient.

Thor had called for a meeting with the entire Vanguard regarding the matter of Surtur, and everyone had come – in the exact same seating arrangement they were in during the meeting that was interrupted by the Altantean invasion -….with the exception of Hank Pym and Barry Allen.

"Sorry, guys," Wasp said, looking down at the table. "Hank's not answering his phone. And he won't respond to our Vanguard earpieces, either."

Thor slammed Mjolnir onto the roundtable. "Ant-Man needs to show up as soon as any human possibly can! I want the entire Vanguard to hear this! And so does Flash!"

"Well, you know how Barry is, Thor," Wonder Woman said, placing her hand on his arm. "Give him like another minute."

It turned out they only needed to give him a few more seconds, because it took that long for the teleporter to be heard and for Barry to super speed towards the roundtable, taking his seat in-between Hal and Cap. "Sorry I'm late."

"Well," Superman said with a tint of lamentation in his voice. "For once, you're not the last person to show up."

Barry looked around, and noticed that Hank was not with them. Cap was now getting a little worried; but at the very least, he thought, Hank showing up would mean no argument between him and Hal.

"Okay, look, we have Hank's girlfriend here," Hal pointed out, his hand extended towards Wasp's direction. "She can just brief him on what we discussed here. With all due respect, Superman, aren't we wasting valuable time?"

Superman cleared his throat. "Yes, Hal, I agree with you, but…."

"But it is best for every single Vanguardian to sit here at this roundtable and listen to my warnings on Surtur!" Thor yelled out.

"…Thor is complicating things, Hal."

Hal shook his head. "Well, Hank clearly doesn't give a shit, so leave him to his little playground of a lab -"

"Do NOT refer to my lab with any correlations to playgrounds!" Hank suddenly shouted out…but no one could see him. No one had any idea where he was…until Hal's chin jerked up, as if someone had just landed an uppercut upon him.

Hal cupped his own chin, a look of disbelief painted onto his face. "What in the hell was that?!" he screamed, and now Cap's initial reassurance that at least there would be no fighting was now tarnished, as he knew things were about to get ugly.

Hal immediately shot a look towards Wasp. "Jan, just what the hell is Hank up to?"

"How many times do I have to tell you guys? I've been kept in the dark!"

It was then that Hank grew to the size of ant, and he was glaring right at Hal.

"What is this about, Hank?!" Carol shouted out, and Cap could see that she was beginning to get irritated with whatever Hank was up to. And he couldn't blame her; he wanted some answers himself.

"….I was trying out a new experiment. Trying to see how small I can possibly make myself. Today, I was the size of an amoeba, which is a new record."

Wasp rolled her eyes. "Yeah, good for you, honey, but did you have to do this _here_?"

"I wanted to test this out in a room full of people, to see if anyone would notice me."

Cap looked over to see Superman, and he saw a face of anger that he had never seen painted onto the Man of Steel before. "Hank, you and I will be having a little talk after the meeting today."

Hank had no response. All he did was take his seat next to Wasp, and Thor began to go on about the nature of Surtur. Cap did try his best to listen, but he couldn't help but think about Hank Pym as he did so. The dude had come off to him as, for lack of a better term….a dick. And this stint made him wonder why Superman didn't call a vote to decide if Hank should even be allowed on the Vanguard of Justice anymore…but Cap himself wasn't the leader, so he wouldn't question the Man of Steel's judgment.

Though it looked like Hank was on thin ice anyway…

* * *

Cap's feelings about Hank being right on the line were proven correct after the meeting. By this point, everyone had left except for him, J'onn, Banner, Wasp, and Zatanna, not counting Superman and Hank who were still in the meeting room. Cap was just walking by the meeting room, and though its doors were closed, he decided to press his ear against them, just out of some strange curiosity about the whole thing.

"Hank, your attitude lately has become more and more intolerable!" Superman shouted out, and Cap almost jumped in surprise at the anger in his voice.

"Clark, can you stop talking to me like I'm some high school bad boy?!" Hank yelled back in protest.

"Hank, I understand that you are an adult. I understand that you have your own life and your own agenda to complete. But what I don't understand is why you felt the need to carry out this little experiment in the middle of a Vanguard meeting! That is one of the worst possible places you could've conducted it! And let alone that, you decked Hal right in the chin!"

' _Well…damn,_ ' Cap thought to himself.

"Alright, look, Hank. I know you and Hal don't like each other! Neither of you are subtle about it, and I also know that Hal himself can sometimes be the aggressor. But regardless of what you personally think of his intellect, at least he knows not to pull this nonsense at a meeting for the Vanguard of Justice! I swear to God, Hank, I'm just about had it up to here with you! If you pull one more incident like this, I'm gonna call for a vote on whether you shall be allowed to stay in the Vanguard."

"Right, right…" was all Hank said in response.

After a few seconds of silence, Cap felt that he should try to walk away, to make it seem like he wasn't eavesdropping. And sure enough, just a few seconds after he began to walk away, Superman and Hank both came out of the room, with the latter sporting a rather dirty look and the former just looking displeased.

Superman flew away, and Hank just stood there, looking down at the ground for a few moments. Then he pressed the center of his utility belt and shrank down, escaping the sight of Captain America.

Cap let out a 'hmm', not sure how else to react to Hank's predicament.

He then heard Zatanna letting out a chuckle, and turned to his right to see her walking by, with Wasp shrunken down and sitting on her shoulder.

"Oh, no they didn't!" Wasp shouted out, beginning to laugh herself.

"Oh, but they did, Janet. They truly thought that they were just going to see some generic white rabbit, so imagine their surprise when an Indian Rhinoceros came out of my hat."

"That must've been one heck of a show, Zatanna!"

Zatanna laughed again. "Oh, it was, Jan."

"You are the best at magic!"

"It just takes years of practice."

Then they both stopped when they took a look at Cap, and then looked at the walls that contained the Vanguard meeting room, evidently noting the lack of shouting.

"So is the good ol' Last Son of Krypton done chewing out my boyfriend?" Wasp asked, though she didn't seem angry or upset like Cap figured she'd be.

"…Yeah, they just got done. Hank just stood there silent before shrinking down and leaving somewhere."

Wasp let out a sigh. "That's typical of him. He's probably off doing yet another experiment of his. That's all he ever seems to care about sometimes!"

Zatanna began to very gently stroke Wasp's tiny leg with her thumb as the later activated her ear comm and began shouting out for Hank, and she just looked down at the ground. "Yeah, Hank is a real handful. Both on a team, and as Jan here can attest to, in a relationship."

Cap simply nodded his head, unsure of how else to react. "That…I'm sorry to hear that about Hank."

Then suddenly, Hank grew back to normal size, and stood directly behind Zatanna. "Well, come on! My research is very important to me!"

Wasp flew off of Zatanna's shoulder and grew back into normal size as well. "Well, Hank, if you could just once seem connected to the real world, that would be great!"

"Oh, here we go again, Janet! How many times do I have to explain how important this research is to me?!"

"Well, Hank, how many times do I have to tell you to engage with other people just once in your life?!"

Hank let out a very loud sigh of exasperation and began making motions with his hands. "Well, I just –"

But Wasp did not let him finish. "And you could at least be nicer to everyone else, including Hal?"

"Hal Jordan is a glory hound who makes me lose respect for the Air Force every time he opens his mouth!"

"He wouldn't have gotten in the Air Force, or even just be a pilot in general, if he was as stupid as you treat him as!"

Cap back to step back a little. He was not afraid….just uncomfortable. He really wished he wasn't here right now. He would rather have been anywhere else but here. And he could tell that Zatanna was feeling the same way.

Then she nudged him. "Let's just leave them be," She whispered to him. "I know somewhere we can go."

"That would be fantastic."

* * *

Five minutes later, they were in Keystone City, Kansas, walking around. Zatanna had teleported them there with her magical powers, and Cap felt odd being here in the Midwest when just a few minutes ago he was in New York City. She had also changed his clothes with her powers, so now he was in civilian attire, and he had his hands in a brown leather jacket.

"So, I have to ask," Cap whispered to Zatanna, not wanting to be too loud since they were in public. "Just…what is Hank's deal to begin with? First off, why does he hate Hal so much?"

"To be honest, Steve…I'm not even entirely sure anymore. I just remember coming to the Tower one day and suddenly seeing those two ripping each other's heads off. Carol told me that Hal was making some jokes about the whole idea behind Ant-Man, and okay, that's jerky, but Hank should just get over it."

Cap sighed. "Right, right….and he and Jan don't seem to have the best relationship…"

Zatanna shook her head. "No, they don't. Janet and I have gotten pretty close, since everyone else is either hard to talk to or just have their own special groupings, and man, she always complains about Hank. I usually take her out to eat – my treat – to lift her spirits, but Hank just keeps on being an asshole."

"Asshole sounds about right, Zatanna." Now that Cap had his questions answered about Hank, now he felt he should ask why Zatanna picked Keystone City of all places. "So, another thing…why come here?"

"Two reasons. One, there's a great Village Inn here within walking distance, and I hear you're a fan of that place."

Cap let out a small chuckle. He did indeed enjoy that one breakfast he had with Barry, Hal, and Carol.

"But the other reason is…" Zatanna then shrugged. "Just because, I guess. So real quick, how familiar are you with smartphones and laptops and all that? You been getting used to them."

Cap had to laugh again. He just had to. "Oh, they are interesting. Let me tell you, back in 1945, I never dreamed that we would have such things."

Zatanna then brushed a smirk onto her face. "So, which phones do Apple make and which phones are called Androids?"

She had caught Cap red-handed now. He hadn't really looked into which smartphones were made by which company, and now he was unsure of how to answer. "Well….um….. none of them are rotary phones, that much I can tell you."

"Oh, Rogers….what are we going to do with you?"

"Yeah, yeah, I know…"

There was then a few seconds of silence as the two continued their walk before Zatanna quickly broke it. "So, Rogers, what do you think of our current economic –"

Zatanna was not able to finish, for Martian Manhunter called both of them before she could.

 _Captain America, Zatanna, where is your current location?_

"Keystone City." Zatanna answered.

 _Come back to the Vanguard Tower now. We've just discovered Hydra's latest stint!_

Cap would be the one to reply this time. "Erm…give us a second to find another alley, and then sure."

Luckily for them, there was another alley not too far away. Zatana and Cap both sped walk there, and walked well into the alley before using pressing their teleportation buttons to go to the Watchtower.

* * *

There, by the roundtable, stood Cap, Zatanna, Hank, Wasp, Banner, and J'onn, with the leader beginning to brief everyone else on what was going on.

"Alright, listen up, everyone. I have received word from Wayne and Stark that Hydra has already raided a series of research facilities all across New York. We've located a group of them under the Mercury Labs headquarters in the Bronx."

With some sort of remote – Cap wasn't entirely sure what it was –, the Martian Manhunter displayed holographic images of two people. One was a statuesque red-headed woman with green eyes and a yellow jumpsuit with black spots here and there, and the other was a gigantic yellow-green monster; unlike the Hulk, he looked more like a true monster than a green man with his scales and ears that resembled bat wings.

"The woman is Dr. Doris Zeul. She is a doctor who we believe has been researching Hank's 'Pym particles' to try and change size. As you can see, she is already a very tall lady at 6'6 like Wonder Woman, but we believe she has gained the ability to grow gigantic thanks to her research. The man is Emil Blonsky, a former KGB agent who went off the grid after the Cold War ended. This is the first time he's been seen since 1991, and it seems Hydra is trying to make its own Hulk."

Hank gritted his teeth to this. "We must stop this at once! My research cannot fall into the wrong hands! It just can't! This Giganta woman needs to be stopped!"

"…And, you know, we have to stop Hydra and save lives, too." Banner said in a rather deadpan tone.

"Not now." Martian Manhunter said, and Cap was happy with him for doing so. "Alright, Vanguard, let's move out!"

It seemed that learning about Dr. Pym and smartphones would have to wait for Cap. Hydra took priority.


	18. A Battle Gone Wrong

The Vanguard was battling Hydra underground once more, and Giganta decked Hank hard in the face. Very, very hard.

Hank had not exactly tested out the 'gigantic growth' aspect of his Pym Particles, which were the things that gave him the ability to change size. He had been used to shrinking down to become 'Ant-Man'. And now, he was….well, he wasn't entirely sure. The first thing that had popped up in his head was the codename 'Giant Man', but he remembered Jan laughing that name off; and it was one of the few times he would admit to her being right. He figured that the name 'Goliath' was more suitable and creative. Yeah, Goliath. It had a nice ring to it.

Problem was, now was the time to be thinking about codenames. Now was the time to put a stop to HYDRA yet again. And for Pym, there was also the added part of figuring out how this 'Giganta' managed to steal his Pym Particles.

He tried to get up in his gigantic form, but Giganta stomped on his back before he could do so.

"Dr. Pym, I wanna give you credit. This is an amazing formula you came up with!"  
Hank did not want a compliment from her.. He really did not. Instead, he just wanted to know where the hell she got some of his research.

She began to slam his head repeatedly into the ground. Hank's pain increased each time she did so; the helmet he was wearing began to crack a little, and if she bashed his head in one more time, the thing would probably shatter. "I will do more with your work than you ever could!" Giganta shouted as she prepared herself.

But just before she could land that helmet-shattering blow, the Hulk jumped up high into the air and landed a blow right to Giganta's stomach, which caused the giant woman to stumble across on the ground, giving Hank time to get up.

For all her apparent brilliance, Giganta made the mistake of letting her hair run a little long. Hank decided to exploit this flaw, grabbing her hair and yanking it as hard as he possibly could. She yelled in agony, but Hank ignored her scream and threw her down to the ground.

As she groaned, Hank gritted his teeth. "Alright, here's what's going to happen, Doris. You are going to tell me exactly how you managed to replicate my formula, and you are going to do it _right now_!"

But before she could even respond, the 'Abomination' roared and lunged towards Hank with enough force to send him toppling down to the ground.

Wasp, who had been occupied with fighting some of the Hydra agents, darted over to her boyfriend, a look of concern painted onto her face. "Hank, honey, are you alright?"

Hank placed his hand on his head. "Yeah, yeah, Jan, I'm alright."

A Hydra agent blasted towards Wasp, and she could no longer focus on 'Goliath'. She had to fight for herself, too.

Martian Manhunter, Captain America, and Zatanna all duked it out against the Hydra agents as well. Cap swung his shield around, and it bounced onto several walls, striking several of the agents in the backs and knocking them all out. Martian Manhunter was constantly being shot at by agents who hoped to catch him in a moment where he wasn't phasing…but that just wasn't happening. The Martian Manhunter then shapeshifted into a reptilitan-like creature and began bashing the agents around the walls. And finally, Zatanna used her wand to turn a couple of the agents into bunnies, and he smirked at the sight.

' _Pathetic_ ' Hank thought to himself as he watched his teammates mow down the Hydra agents.

"Hank, a little help here!" Wasp then said as she was blasting at the Hydra agents.

"Not now, Jan! I still need answers from Doris!"

But just as he said that, a Hydra agent was able to catch the tiny Wasp in his hand. He then began to squeeze his hand, and he could practically feel the sensation of Wasp's bones about to crack. He thought he could see movement in the man's hand, as if Wasp was trying to grow in an attempt to break free, but failing due to the pressure tha man was giving.

"Let go of her right now!" He said as he kicked the agent once, and due to his mass size, it was enough to send the Hydra soldier flying.

Wasp fell out of the agent's hand when he was sent flying, and Hank kneeled down to look at his unconscious girlfriend, unsure of how many bones could be broken at the moment.

"Jan, no…"

Zatanna also stopped fighting for a moment when she saw Wasp's unconscious body. Her eyes widened, and this moment of vulnerability was seized upon when a Hydra agent shot her right in the kneecap. While she would just be able to heal it up with a spell, she didn't have time to apply that spell the agent shot her again, this time in the back. The agent tried to shoot Zatanna one more time, but her bullets ran out. She merely ran up to Zatanna and began stomping upon her face, and another agent noticed this and began to aim his gun towards Zatanna's head.

However, Cap bashed the agent with his shield before that could happen…only for the Captain to then be grabbed by his leg by Abomination, who threw him against the wall.

"Hulk smash inferior fake!" Hulk shouted out as he lunged towards the Abomination.

"Well, hey now, Dr. Banner. At least I can speak proper sentences." The Abomination replied with a rather smug tone.

Cap tried to get back up, but Abomination grabbed him again and smashed him into the ground before throwing him towards the Hulk.

Giganta, meanwhile, got back up and kicked Hank right in the gonads.

"That is a cheap shot, you know!" Abomination said.

Giganta smirked. "Oh, I know it is. But I don't care."

She then took a look at the Hydra agents fighting the Martian Manhunter, who was staring down at Wasp's unconscious body, and her smirk turned into a scowl. "Good thing the Martian's weakness is easy to exploit…"

It was just then that a Pyro agent – this wore a gas mask and had a flamethrower attached to his backs – finished slamming Cap's head into a wall and began marching towards the Martian Manhunter. J'onn had no time to react before the agent made his move.

The pyro agent began blasting fire into the air, and the regular Hydra agents began to back away while the Martian Manhunter was lowered to the ground, and he began to stare at the fire with a look of pure horror on his face, his mouth agape and his eyes as big as dinner plates. A Hydra agent randomly shot at the Manhunter, and it struck him right in the stomach, causing J'onn to roar in pain. That specific agent began to grin, while the Pyro agent looked down at J'onn, aiming his flamethrower.

The only reason the Pyro agent did not finish off the Manhunter right then and there was because Cap intervened just in time, grabbing his arm and twisting it until a snapping sound could be heard. The Pyro agent roared in agony, and Cap had saved his teammate from death – though that didn't change the fact that the Manhunter needed aid right now. Unfortunately, Cap could not give that aid to the Manhunter, for one Hydra agent shot at him and grazed his shoulder while another one shot him right in the leg. Cap groaned and closed his eyes as he struggled to move his leg.

The Hulk, meanwhile…was getting smashed.

"Oh, look at you, Hulk," Abomination said in a taunting tone. "Relying on your Vanguard to protect you. You think you're the strongest there is, yet you hide behind the likes of Superman and Captain America."

Abomination then punched Hulk in the stomach three times before grabbing him by his head and slamming him into a wall.

"Because you know what the military would do to you without the Vanguard. What dear old Thunderbolt Ross would do."

"Shut up, inferior fake!" Hulk screamed as he broke free of Abomination's grip.

Abomination grinned. "Fake? You really have an ego, don'tcha, Hulk? How ironic, given what a neurotic mess I hear Bruce Banner is."

"You talk too much!" Hulk said as he tried to deck Abomination right in the face, only for the big-eared monster to dodge it with a smirk on his face.

"Because honestly, Hulk….you're not enough of a challenge."

And with that, Abomination began to pummel the Hulk. Hulk tried to hit back several times, but he could never quite strike Emil Blonsky. Abomination, on the other hand, had no trouble kicking the Hulk around. He was able to land a mighty kick to the Hulk's chin, which almost knocked him out; the Hulk was rather lucky. Such a blow would've been enough to kill a normal man right away.

Wasp was still unconscious, and Zatanna had to stand around her shrunken body and defend her against a Hydra agent who tried to step on her. Zatanna had used her wand to heal her leg because of Goliath taking care of some of the agents that had surrounded them, but there was still a great deal of them left to deal with. Things were not made easier for her when Giganta grabbed her up and held her tightly with a grin on her face.

"I saw one of your shows once, Zatanna. Not bad at all. But still, I have a job to do."

Zatanna didn't let her size disadvantage get to her. Hell, she hardly considered it a disadvantage given her magical abilities…until, that is, Giganta grabbed her wand with her giant fingers and threw it down to the ground. Hank was kneeling on the ground, holding his injured knee, and everyone else was occupied, so there was no one to help her when Giganta consumed Zatanna into a fist – and began to squeeze her hand.

Zatanna could feel her bones begin to crush. While she did have the innate ability to use magic without her wand, it had always been a convenient way for her to channel it. Without it, it was harder for her to use magic. And that meant there was no easy way for her to escape Giganta's fist.

Thankfully for her, Hank got up and headbutted the back of Giganta's head, causing her in yelp and drop Zatanna in her moment of surprise. Hank caught Zatanna before she fell to the ground, and he placed her onto the floor safely.

"I've had enough of this!" Hank shouted as he grabbed Giganta by her hair again. "You're gonna tell me exactly how you copied my formula after all of this is said and done!"

He began to knock here around. He kicked her, and punched her, and then grabbed her shoulder and kneed her in the stomach. Zatanna saw a good with this and used her wand to cast a spell upon Giganta.

"Erotser reh ot lamron ezis!"

A few pixels and lights glowed around Giganta as she was shrunken down to her normal size. Even then, she was still a whopping 11 inches taller than Zatanna, but she was no longer a threat to Hank. Instead, she looked agape before looking down at Zatanna and gritting her teeth.

But then, the Hulk's unconscious body flew across the room, and the Abomination jumped down right behind Zatanna. He had a gigantic steel bar in his hands, and he jumped up towards Hank and used it to stab him right in the kneecap. Hank yelled in pain.

"Who stabs someone in the kneecap, you bastard?!" Hank shouted. "You are going to die for this! You hear me! You! Will! DI –"

But then Abomination punched him in the face again, and then slammed his body onto the ground, knocking him out cold. He then began to deck Zatanna at such speeds that she could not react and use magic in time. She became completely disoriented, and Abomination turned his attention to Giganta.

"Hydra has gotten the necessary resources, Dorris! We should go, now! The remaining agents will take care of Cap, and Krieger can't afford to lose any more metahumans right now."

Giganta nodded, and Abomination grabbed her and began jumping and running away. By this point, Cap was the only left fighting against the Hydra agents, and he was hoplessly outmatched. He could not fight them all off. Even as several of them began to run away from the fight alongside Abomination and Giganta, they still outnumbered Cap in numbers.

But it wasn't that way for much longer. Zatanna reoriented herself. She couldn't keep doing this. She couldn't keep fighting on – she had to pull out a big spell. She only reserved spells like these for desperate situations because they drained most of her energy…but this was a desperate situation.

"Lla ardyH stnega, espalloc won!"

Pixels and particles spread out across the underground area, and before Cap knew it, every Hydra agent fell unconscious to the ground. Zatanna groaned before falling over unconscious to the ground as well, leaving Cap as the only Vanguardian, and the only person in general, left conscious in the area.

All he could do was sigh, knowing that the Vanguard had lost this battle.

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

There was silence at the Vanguard roundtable. Every member was here, sans Wasp, Hank, and J'onn who were in the medical room.

Iron Man broke the silence and stood up. "How on Earth did happen, guys? You had J'onn and the Hulk on your team? How did Hydra get away?"

"We've been over this, Stark," Zatanna replied in a cold and frustrated tone. "They had a pyro agent there as well as the 'Abomination'. They've clearly been preparing themselves for the powerhouses on our team."

Iron Man took his faceplate off, revealing a flabbergasted Tony Stark. "But still, the rest of you should've been able to –"

"Stark!" Superman stated towards Iron Man, who paused right away. "I'll handle this."

Iron Man let out a 'hmm' and sat back down. Superman made eye contact with Banner. "What happened is no doubt disappointing for us all, but don't focus on beating yourselves up over it. Let's just focus on making sure Hydra doesn't claim another victory."

"If I may ask," Barry then said, "What was it that Hydra was trying to steal from Mercury Labs?"

Batman would be the one to answer that. "It turns out that a couple Mercury Labs scientists were not morally sound. They had recently perfected technology that could be used to forcibly make others do one's bidding. This is what Hydra was after, and now they have brainwashing technology."

Hank got up. "Excuse me for a moment. I just…I just can't."

Hank walked out of the room, and Zatanna also excused herself to follow him.

They simply walked across the Vanguard Tower, not saying a word to each other, until they reached the medical room. Cap and Zatanna saw the room through its massive windows, and it was a pure white room with enough medical beds for the entire team, plus a few spare ones. They saw Wasp and J'onn still not waking up, and Hank was there, returned to normal size."

Hank just stared. "How did this happen? How _did this happen_? We let Hydra win."

Zatanna sighed. "It sucks, I know. But it's like Superman said, Hank. We just gotta focus on making sure it doesn't happen again."

"But they still got that tech…"

Hank buried his face in his hand and placed his other hand against the wall. Superman was standing behind the two, a look of his pity on his face. He knew how this happened: He didn't come to Janet's help when she needed it, allowing her to get knocked out. That distracted Zatanna and J'onn, which Hydra exploited to take them down. In a weird way, this was on him, and he knew it.

It would be hard for everyone to let go of this, but Hank thought about Wasp being knocked out cold, and he sighed.

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

A hooded man was sitting at a bar in New York; the lights were bright, the sky was dark, and a large party was chatting loudly and obnoxiously, but he head a beer to himself.

On one of the TVs came footage of the Vanguard of Justice, including the Hulk. The man did not pay any attention to the other Vanguardians - just the Hulk. He drank a Corona Lite as the news reporters began discussing the Hulk and how the Vanguard had him as a member to protect him from people like General Thunderbolt Ross. He pulled down his hood to reveal a gray-haired, mustached man, and he smirked at the image of the Hulk.

"Bruce, you're an even bigger freak than I ever thought you'd turn out to be," he said, before telling the bartender that he would like his check for the beer.

He signed the check, giving a poor tip as he did so, and walked out. He ignored everyone else in the bar, instead staring at the wooden walls of the bar.

The man walked out of the bar, the Hulk consuming his mind.

" _Oh, son_ ," he thought to himself. " _You think the Vanguard can protect you? That I'll be out of your life forever. Just wait until you see the power I have just acquired, Bruce. Wait until you get a load of me_."

And he smirked.


	19. Coast City

It had been a relatively boring few days for certain members of the Vanguard. Ever since the failed attack on Hydra underneath Mercury Labs, nothing major had really come up from either them or from an independent force or supervillain.

Carol was off at work, at Ferris Air, walking around in a cloudless blue sky as two planes took off behind her in good ol' Coast City, California. After completing her training in the U.S. Air Force, and it was here, by the very spot she was walking by, that she met Hal Jordan. She didn't think that much of him at first. They were mostly just Facebook friends for a while, and didn't talk to each other too much.

That all changed when they got their powers.

And speaking of which, Hal was off on a mission in the Triangulum Galaxy. Ordinarily, he would have to bullshit a reason why he was absent, but he and Carol had both decided to just tell their boss who they were. It made life easier.

A slick-haired, big-nosed, and lean man took a look at Carol and let out a flirtarious whistle. She just rolled her eyes and walked away; she got that a lot, and she just ignored it every single time.

"Danvers!" A voice shouted out, and she turned around to see her boss…who just so happened to share her name. Carol Ferris. She was a black-haired, Caucasian, and blue-eyed woman in a gray jacket and black skirt, and Carol already knew exactly what this chat was going to be about.

"Danvers, have you heard back from Hal at all?"

Carol shook her head while making eye contact with the much shorter of the two Carols. "No, Ferris, I have not. But, um…" She decided to step in closer so she wouldn't have to talk as loudly about Hal's… _other_ job. "Green Lantern work can take a while. And even if he is done, it takes a while to get back to Earth from where he's at."

Ferris than rolled her eyes. "Of course. I can just see him now, blasting away aliens and having the time of his life…"

Carol chuckled. "Right, that sounds like him."

"I should be off. Director Fury's still on my ass about that _one_ incident…"

And with that, Ferris was off. She had said that last thing like Carol was supposed to know what that mean, when no, she hadn't the slightest idea. But it didn't really matter that much, she guessed. She was off the clock soon, and then she would going to the pub to meet up with Barry, Steve, and in a new twist of fate, Clark.

She looked up at the sky, and wondered how Hal was doing in the Triangulum Galaxy…as well as if the aliens who granted her superpowers were still out there. She actually didn't know who they were or why they had experimented on her like that, so she had no idea what they could be up to…and if they would ever return. All she could remember where flashes of a some sort of lab, with silhouettes continually looking down at her; they were experimenting on her, though for what purpose she never figured out.

' _Well….at least I don't have an anal probe._ ' She thought to herself. '

* * *

It wasn't long before Carol was at the pub known as Broome and Colan's, a bar frequented by pilots and soldiers, so Barry and Clark would be exceptions rather than the rule.

She had already picked a booth table – the kind of table she preferred – and she was waiting for her friends to show up.

It was only a few seconds later that Barry, Clark, and Steve showed up, the latter seemingly jarred out with his hand on his chest.

"Man, I am never going to get used to traveling at superspeed." Steve said, moving his hand to the back of his head and sighing.

"My bad, Steve." Barry replied as he took a seat next to Carol while Clark sat on the opposite side of the booth. "You take it better than most, I'll say. Might be because of your super soldier serum. But really, as long as I hold onto your head to prevent whiplash, you'll be fine."

"Right." Was all Steve replied with.

Carol didn't have time to say anything at all because two African-American men, one with a buzzcut, a large jaw, and a large nose, and the other with a small beard and red tinted glasses, walked up to the three, their eyes focused on Steve. Carol knew who these people were, and _they_ were still people she was on Facebook Friend levels with.

"Holy crap, man. That's Captain America." The buzzcut one said, his voice deep and actually sounding not too different from Aquaman. "My, oh my, this is a surprise. What are you doing here in Coast City, Captain Rogers?"

Steve let out a humble chuckle. "Just exploring modern day America, sir."

"Oh no, don't call me sir, Captain. Name's Stewart. John Stewart. I'm a Marine."

John held out his hand, and Steve smiled before shaking it. "And you can just call me Steve, John." He said, before his attention went to the man standing next to John. "And you are…"

"Sam Wilson, Ca – Steve. I used to do pararescue for the Air Force. Was honorably discharged a few months ago."

"It is nice to meet both of you."

A waitress came along and began taking Barry and Carol's orders, but Steve kept on chatting with Sam and John. "So, Steve," Sam said after shaking Steve's hand. "I used to love reading about you in school. One of my favorite subjects was learning about the Liberty Brigade."

Steve nodded. "That's nice. Glad I got people to pay attention in school."

"I was somewhat fascinated by the Brigade back in the day as well," John added on, "And I actually met Alan Scott when I was a kid. That was a real treat. Got him to sign a baseball glove, as that was all I had."

That inspired Steve to tell a story. "You know, I technically wouldn't be alive if it weren't for Alan," He said, making motions with his hands as he did so. "The year was '43, and we were in Mont Blanc over in France. We were taking out a Hydra base, as usual, but I got myself hoplessly outgunned at one point. I mean, Hydra agents were circled all around me, and people like Jay and Namor were at a different part of the base. But then Alan came along and disposed of every one of them with a green mallet like they were nothing. And he quite enjoyed himself, too."

Sam began to laugh while John walked away towards the bar. "I recall learning about that in like seventh or eighth grade. Man, I hope you don't mind me asking…where do you live?"

"I live in the Vanguard Tower. Still haven't tried to find a job or my own apartment yet."

"Ah, I see. Say, do you mind if I run some random names and events by you, see how caught up you are with today's world?"

Steve shrugged. "Why not?"

" _Star Wars_ , _Star Trek, I Love Lucy_ , Nirvana, the Moon Landing, the Berlin Wall…." Sam paused for a moment, as if thinking of what else to say, before continuing. "…Thai food, Vladimir Putin, the Gulf War… _Calvin and Hobbes_ , _Jurassic Park_ …Richard Nixon, the European Union, and YouTube."

Most of those names sounded familiar to Steve – and he grimaced in disgust at the name of Richard Nixon, a fact he felt he should clarify. "Sorry, the name of Nixon just…ugh…I guess the only thing I'm not familiar with there is Nirvana. I just thought that was something related to Buddhism."

Sam laughed again, this time louder. "They were a band, man. They disbanded for tragic reasons, but their music was the bomb. …Wait, are you familiar with rock music at all?"

"…Kind of."

"Captain, you are missing out on a lot."

It was then that John Stewart walked back up to the two, with Steve assuming he just went to take another shot or something. "I heard you guys change the subject, but there's something I have to say about Alan Scott. I honestly think he's way cooler than the Green Lantern we have now," he said, before an somewhat apologetic look appeared on his face. "I don't meant to insult one of your teammates, Captain, but that new Green Lantern just seems like a glory hound."

Brining up Hal Jordan now proved to be impeccable timing on John's part, because the entrance door opened and Steve turned around to see Hal himself, looking somewhat tired out on top of it.

John cupped his chin, as if he was on to something. "He reminds me a lot of Hal, actually. Sam, do you feel me there?"

"Honestly…yeah, I do." Sam replied while watching Hal look around.

Carol, Barry, and Clark all seemed rather surprised to see Hal, with Barry getting up to greet him. "Hey, Hal! You're back earlier than we all thought you'd be."

Hal looked around again, with Steve figuring he was trying to make sure no one was in earshot, before whispering something in Barry's ear. Barry sat back down, and Hal walked up to Steve, John, and Sam.

"Hey, guys. How's it rolling?"

Sam smiled. "Well, with Captain America here, it's rolling quite good, actually."

Hal paused for an awkwardly long moment before looking at Steve. "Oh….yeah. Steve Rogers. It is a true honor to meet you, sir."

Suddenly, a vibrating noise could be heard, and John pulled out his cellphone. "Oh, excuse me for a moment. Gotta take this call."

John walked away, and Sam looked at him, and then at some other folks on the other side of the bar. "I should probably get going, too. My sister over there really wanted to talk to me about something."

Steve watched him turn his back, but then tapped his shoulder a minute later. "Wait, wait. My teammates have been telling me about this 'texting' thing you can do on phones now. And I really need more contacts, so…I….I guess."

"This is not happening!" Sam shouted as he laughed. "Hell yeah, you can have my number, Captain America. Holy crap…."

And so Sam gave Steve his number before walking away, and he and Hal sat down with their teammates. Steve sat down next to Clark while Hal pulled up a chair.

"Well, Rogers," Clark began, putting down his menu. "You seemed to hit it off with those two guys pretty well."

"Oh yeah," Steve replied as he held up his own menu. "You guys are great, but it feels nice to socialize with other people for a change."

There were a second or two or silence before Carol turned her head to face Hal. "So how'd the Triangulum mission go?"

"Oh, it went well. Trying to prevent an intergalactic war between two space empires was easier than I'd thought it be. And…" Hal said, pausing to lean in. "I solved _two_ missing persons cases along the way."

Everyone looked at Hal, confused, and he just leaned back with a smile on his face.

"Peter Quill and Adam Strange. Both cases have theories of aliens behind them, and both would probably be right. Peter is traveling around the universe with a gun-toting raccoon – space is weird – and some other alien creatures, and Adam Strange is on a planet called Rann, He was accidentally teleported there by its residents, but he didn't seem ready to come back to Earth. And also, I got proof of what they've been up to."

Carol and Barry nodded. "Well, way to go, Hal," Barry stated sincerely. "Their families should be quite pleased when they find out Peter and Adam are alive and well."

"I certainly hope so, Barry."

Then their waitress came up to the five, and they began to take their orders. Once all of that was done and out of the way, they resumed conversing about their lives.

"So, Clark, I must wonder…" Carol began to ask. "When is that Job Fair of yours coming up again?"

"Oh, that." Clark replied, adjusting his glasses. "Um, about a week. We really have to pull through, with journalism dying and all –"

He abruptly stopped, and stood up, looking up at the roof. Everyone one was just confused. He seemed to be muttering something, though absolutely no one knew what that was.

Their questions were answered when Iron Man came crashing through the roof.

Iron Man crashed onto the ground pretty hard, and everyone lit up in confusion and bafflement. The five Vanguardians in civilian attire all looked at each other in confusion, and then they all looked at Steve. He was the only one who could speak to Iron Man and ask what was going on without blowing his cover, as his identity was public. Steve nodded to them.

"Iron Man?" Steve asked, kneeling down. "What the hell is going on?"

Iron Man groaned as he got up. "I….I tried to fight off some alien forces by myself, but they are powerful and persistent. I believe they called themselves the Kree."

Hal's eyes widened. "The Kree? Here?" He whispered to Carol, Barry, and Clark. "Damn!"

"Who are the Kree?" Clark asked.

"They're an alien race from the Large Magellanic Cloud. Very advanced, and very militaristic. Their empire is one of the biggest rivals to the Corps, and they have no qualms about mercy."

"Well…that's good to know."

They then looked back at Steve and Iron Man. "Damnit, my systems have been heavily damaged. Blasters are offline, jets are offline…god _damnit_. I do know what the Kree are coming for, however. They are here for –"

Iron Man was not able to finish, because nine alien soldiers crashed down into the bar before he could. These soldiers donned white armor with green helmets, green gloves, and green boots, and they had blasters in their hands that wouldn't look out of place in a sci-fi movie. They also bore the image of a planet on their chests, one that looked a lot like Saturn with its rings. Some of them appeared to have pink skin like a Caucasian human, while others bore blue skin.

Then, what looked like a Kree female landed down onto the floor. She was dressed completely differently from the soldiers – she bore a red outfit with blue gloves, blue boots, and a blue cap, and she had cerulean skin and long hair. And she also bore a different symbol on his chest.

The symbol, however, was identical what Carol wore on her Captain Marvel outfit.

Then the Kree woman looked right at her. "There she is, right there. Seize her!"

One of the Kree soldiers blasted towards Carol, and it must've been set to 'stun' because she fell unconscious immediately afterwards. The Kree soldier quickly lifted her up and carried her, walking back towards the rest of the soldiers.

Hal gritted his teeth. "What do you want with her?!" He shouted out.

"We need to verify some lab results we made a few years ago," the Kree woman answered. Then, she and all the soldiers flew away on their rocket boots.

All except for one soldier, that is. And his helmet visor began to flash red.

Steve and Hal furrowed their eyebrows, unsure of what was going on. Iron Man, however, jumped, and Hal's eyes widened.

"Oh, Jesus, it's –"

But it was too late. Before John, or Sam, or anyone knew it, the restaurant blew up in a firey blaze.


	20. Acts of Intergalactic War

Carol could see the bar exploding, but only barely. She was beginning to lose consciousness, and as smoke brewed from the building, she faded away, but not before images of a memory of Broome and Colan's began popping into her head...

* * *

 _Two Years Ago_

Carol suddenly found herself next to the bar she frequented after work, and she had no memory of what had occurred in the past few hours. None.

She hadn't been drinking; Carol had tried to only drink at the bar, to avoid sinking into alcoholism like her cousin or grandfather. But _something_ had happened. Her hair was a mess, her long-sleeved shirt was a bit tattered, her right pant leg had a big hole in it, and she was missing one of her boots; only a black sock with white stripes on it was visible.

She saw a few men walk out of Broome and Colan's. She recognized most of them from work, but only one name popped up right away: Hal Jordan.

Hal and three of the other men - one a dude with a shaved head and a distractingly big nose, and another a guy with gray eyes and pearly white teeth, and the last one a man with shades, slick black hair, and an all-black attire, walked up to her, eyebrows raising on all of their heads.

"That chick…she works with us, doesn't she?" the man with shades asked.

"Yeah. Carol Danvers." The man with the shaved head replied. "What the hell happened with you, lady? You look _terrible_."

Carol opened her mouth to speak, but wasn't sure of what to say. Because she still couldn't think of anything that had transpired in the last few hours.

"I, uh….I have no idea, gents."

Hal and the other guys looked at each other, and everyone but Hal began inquiring her further.

"What, are you drunk?"

"Her speech isn't slurred, jackass. She's probably just hungover."

"He's right. I mean, _look at her_. This is not how a guy should look, let alone a lady."

Carol was not sure of what to make of that remark, but she decided she would deal with that later. Some images were beginning to flash through her mind…but she couldn't believe any of them. She saw flashes of various figures; some of them were tan-skinned, but others donned blue on their flesh. And they all wore some combination of green and white. She didn't know what to make of any of these images. Then she remembered the sound of herself screaming in pure and absolute agony. That made Carol even more confused, as she didn't feel any semblance of pain now, and she didn't even feel sore from anything.

"Carol, what all can you remember?" Hal asked, finally breaking his silence.

"I…I…aliens….I remember aliens…and some sort of abduction…I…" Carol was thinking aloud, and she honestly hadn't realized she said those words out loud until everyone but Hal began to laugh out loud.

"You're not serious! You cannot be serious!"

"Oh, you must've gotten _so_ drunk!"

"Lord, this has made my night!"

"PFFFFT HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Carol felt really embarrassed. She couldn't have believed she said that out loud. Hal simply looked baffled, and everyone else was laughing their asses off. She looked down at the ground in shame, a feeling only worsened when the other guys brought in another lad to get a load of this.

"So what were these people?" The man in shades said in a mocking tone. "Little green men? The grey dudes? Reptilian monsters?!"

Carol groaned loudly, but she could hardly blame them for not believing her. She probably wouldn't believe this either – although she wouldn't laugh at them like this.

So what Hal said next surprised her. "Hey now, guys! That's quite enough! Just give her some time to clear her head. Nothing good ever comes out of laughing at people like this."

The man with a shaved head turned his head and spat in Hal's face. "Oh look at ol' Hal Jordan here, trying to be a big man and stand up for the defenseless lady. Get lost!"

Now Carol knew exactly what to say next. "Excuse me?! Did you just call me defenseless?! I know more than a few ways to kick your ass, buddy!"

The guys began to laugh again.

"Don't push me!" Carol said, scowling.

Hal was still standing there, his eyes narrow. Carol appreciated him helping out, but they weren't that close. Carol could only recall having a few full conversations with him, and none of them were ever that deep.

Carol didn't have that much time to think about it, though. She was a little busy trying to resist the urge to punch out all of these guys.

Eventually, the guy in all-black stopped laughing. "Alright, we should probably get going. Thanks for the laugh, Carol."

All of the men walked away, leaving Hal and Carol just standing there. Carol narrowed her eyes at them, and a death glare appeared on her face. She wanted so badly to kick these guy's asses, but a small part of her pondered over whether it was really worth her time.

In the end, whether it was worth her time or not didn't matter, because Hal seemed to think it was worth his time.

"You're all just a bunch of cowardly assholes, you know that?!" He shouted out, pointing towards them.

Carol was still surprised to see Hal being like this. Well, she rethought that. From what conversations they had had, Carol knew that Hal wasn't always one to think things through. And that seemed to be the case now. And she couldn't help but notice the green ring on his finger. He had never worn any rings before, not that she had seen at least.

The four guys all turned around, and the one with shades began to crack his knuckles. "Oh, so you want an assbeating, Jordan? Oh oh hoh, Christmas came early for you, pal."

"Alright, I've had enough of this! Back! Off!" Carol said, pointing towards them.

But she couldn't believe it when yellow energy blasts came out of her hand and fired right towards that guy. He was sent flying a few feet away, and the others just looked at Carol in horror and disbelief.

Carol herself was in horror and disbelief. The guys just ran away.

"What the fuck was that?!"

"Holy shit!"

"That freak!"

But there was one person not running, and that was Hal, who just stood there with his mouth agape. Carol just looked at him with another dose of disbelief.

"I-I-I – what is going on with me!? I swear, Hal, I don't know what this is!"

Hal raised his hands up. "Okay, okay, calm down. Follow me. Let's go into that alley over there."

"Wha – why?"

"Just follow me!"

Carol decided to just go along with it, and she followed Hal to the alley that was right next to Broome and Colan's. Aside from a few trashcans and piles of trash, there wasn't much here.

Carol was breathing heavily. "With all due respect, Hal, why aren't you running away! I have no idea what I'm capable of! I could hurt you! Bad!"

Hal let out a deep breath. "I know. And I know we're not that close. But we have something in common now. Something…." Hal said, before pausing and looking down at the ground. "Something has happened to me, too."

Carol raised her eyebrow, and her questions were answered when Hal lifted his hand and showed her the ring. And this time, it was glowing a brighter shade of green. Suddenly, a green boxing glove appeared over it, with Carol assuming that Hal was creating it with the ring; then, a 1950s television appeared; and then, an AR-15. All green.

"So...you're like Alan Scott?"

"In a sense. My ring has no connection to his. I…it's a long story, and it only happened a few days ago. I haven't told anyone else, because I wasn't sure anyone would understand."

He paused and looked side-to-side, before returning eye contact with Carol. "But it looks like I was wrong. Do you want to come by my apartment and discuss things there?"

"…Sure."

* * *

 _Present Day_

Hal gritted his teeth as he held up a shield to defend everyone from the blast. Everyone on the other side of the bar had unfortunately died in the blast, but he was able to shield John, Sam, Cap, Barry, and everyone else on this side of the bar. It was insane luck that he did, too, given how sudden the blast was.

Carol was gone now, and everyone just looked at Hal in confusion and amazement. He had been forced to reveal his identity as Green Lantern to these people; he didn't like that, but it was a necessary action. He was never going to let innocents die just so he could protect his identity.

But worrying about these consequences would have to wait. Carol had been taken by the Kree.

He himself was thinking about that night, two years ago, right now. They went to Hal's apartment, where they discussed what had happened to each of them. Hal explained the whole concept of the Green Lantern Corps to Carol, and had to emphasize that Alan Scott had no connection to the Corps. Hal himself found it an unlikely story that Alan just so happened to take the name of an intergalactic police organization. In addition, Hal didn't imagine that Carol Danvers would be the first person he told about the Corps and his membership to it, but life throws surprises at people. And he narrowed his eyes, pissed at the surprise life was throwing at him and the Vanguard right now.

"Is everyone alright!" He said as Clark adjusted his glasses and looked at the other half of the bar, which had been blown up.

"Half of us are dead!" Sam replied, pointing at the burnt half of the bar.

Clark stared at the bodies, with Hal assuming that he was using his X-Ray vision. His assumption was proven correct when Clark said, "16 people. 16 people are dead!"

Hal narrowed his eyes. The Kree would pay. But then he noticed Clark walk up to Barry and nod, and then the reporter walked up to the pilot and whispered in his ear as well. "Barry and I are going to try and find a way to zoom out of this bar without anyone else noticing. You take Cap and Stark and meet us at the S.T.A.R. Labs by here, and we'll discuss what to do from there."

That didn't sound like a bad idea, Hal thought to himself. He nodded, and engulfed both Cap and Iron Man in a giant green bubble.

"Man, I wish I could kick those aliens' asses right here, right now!" John shouted out amongst all the commotion.

"Don't worry, John," Cap said to assure the Marine. "These guys will get what's coming to them. And then some."

And with that, Hal took Cap and Iron Man and flew away.

* * *

Hal, Cap, and Iron Man were waiting by the S.T.A.R. Labs in town, with Iron Man tapping his foot impatiently. Hal rolled his eyes at this, since Barry and Superman were speedsters. They would probably be here in a few milliseconds. And sure enough, before Hal could think another thought, the two had arrived, and they could discuss what to do now.

"Alright, anyone got a plan?" Barry asked.

"It's really quite obvious," Iron Man replied. "We go and rescue Carol, and then kick some Kree ass."

"Well, about that part about rescuing Carol…"

Iron Man showed confused body language, so Hal figured he'd step in and explain. "Carol can almost certainly save herself, Stark. She'll have probably busted her way out of those assholes' prison cells by the time we get to wherever their ship is located. Our real priority needs to be helping her fight off the Kree, and get them to answer to the Guardians of the Universe for the deaths of those innocent people at the bar!"

"I take it your Green Lantern Corps won't stand for the Kree have done?" Cap asked, his arms crossed.

"Correct. The Kree Empire is not to cause any strife like this outside the borders of their own Empire, which consists of about a thousand or two star systems. They have just murdered sixteen innocent people on a planet under the protection of the Green Lantern Corps. The Guardians will _not_ be happy."

"All of that sounds good, Hal." Superman said as he walked up closer to the Green Lantern, before making eye contact with Iron Man. "Stark, where did you encounter the Kree?"

"In Malibu," Iron Man answered, some static coming off of his damaged armor. "They must've not known exactly where in California Carol was, so they were searching around the state. I fought them all the way here. I…might've attacked first. Here we are, though. Now give me one minute."

Some beeping sounds could be heard from Iron Man's armor, and the other four just stood there patiently, waiting for Iron Man to get done with whatever he was doing. It was about thirty seconds or so before he stopped.

"Alright, my sensors and cameras are heavily damaged, but from what little I could gather, the Kree seem to have gone up in space. They are currently directly above the North American continent."

"Alright then!" Superman replied, raising his arm up. "Looks like we're going up into space."

* * *

Carol was out cold for a few minutes, but when she got up, she was in a glass with a glass bubble entrapped around it. The outside room was pure silver. It had an even more chrome tint to it than the Vanguard Tower. She looked around – there seemed to be little sign of any activity going on in this ship.

That is, until that Kree lady 'Minn-Erva' and three Kree soldiers entered the room and looked directly at Carol, who was unsure what to make of any of this. "After all these years, we have you in our grasp at last."

Carol pressed her hands onto the glass, and then backed away and unleashed an energy blast onto her cell to try and shatter it. She let out a 'huh' when that didn't work and the cell stood there as if she had but poked it.

With no clear escape in sight, she looked at Minn-Erva, confused. "What is this?! Why are you doing this?!"

Minn-Erva seemed confused, going by her raised eyebrow. 'Do you not actually remember?"

"…No." Carol replied.

"Ah, the translator microchip still works. You wear the symbol of the Kree on your suit, and you don't even remember where it came from, or who did this to you?"

"No. Not at all."

"Well, that uniform is still property of the Kree Empire. You wrongfully _stole_ it from us when you were trying to bust your way out of our ship, even though you had know idea where you were! Danvers, did you even know that you could fly then?!"

That…sounded familiar, Carol thought to herself. She now had flashes of herself waking up and attacking the Kree in a state of panic. She found the uniform and stole it to give herself something to wear, as she thought she had something like a hospital gown on at the time.

"Okay, quick question, Miss Minn-Erva. Why did it take so long for you to find me if I am guilty of theft and damage to one of your vessels."

Minn-Erva just stood there for a brief moment before speaking. "A race called the Thanagarians began a revolt and tried to break free from our empire. They managed to drive us away…but know this. The Thanagarian Revolution is one of only a single-digit number of failures the Kree Empire has suffered. We have a very good success rate, so don't think you'll be breaking out of here anytime soon."

To that, Carol smirked. "Oh, just try me. But let's take in the unlikely event where I don't break out of here and hand you your asses. Where will you take me?"

"You will be taken to Hala, the homeworld of the Kree and the centerpiece of our empire. There, we will finally finish our experimentation on you, you pesky little lab rat."

It was then that one of the Kree soldiers piped in. "Excuse me, Doctor, but what should we do about the Green Lantern of this sector? We technically violated our agreements with them, and not only that, but Abin Sur is dead – and the new Green Lantern of this sector is from Earth."

Minn-Erva seemed to light up a little at the mention of 'Green Lantern'. "Ah, yes, Hal Jordan. I have heard of him. He's only been at this a few years. If he's even near Earth, then we'll handle him, and he won't live to tell the Corps of what we've done."

Carol laughed now. "Oh, Hal is much more capable than you realize, Minn-Erva! And it just so happens that he was at the bar where you guys abducted me! But he's not the only one you have to worry about, hon."

She then began to blast at the cell door some more, and now Minn-Erva was the one laughing. "Fool! You cannot break free!"

"Give me a minute," Carol replied as she kept blasting the cell. After a dozen or so blasts, the cell began to crack, and Minn-Erva's smug smile disappeared.

"She is more powerful than we realized!" One of the soldiers pointed out as the cell began to crack some more.

"I can see, you know!" Minn-Erva snapped back as the cracks began to worsen.

"Let me guess, you saw humans as nothing but pathetic little worms that you could experiment on without pissing anyone off, didn't you?" Carol asked, and she could see from Minn-Erva's shocked gasp that this probably was the case.

"Well, if that's the case," she added on, her right hand glowing with energy. "Then, boy are you in for a rude awakening."

She blasted the cell one more time, and now it had completely shattered, with glass falling all over the place.

"No! NO!" Minn-Erva shouted, before getting out a small circle-shaped device and pressing one of the purple buttons on it. "I want every personnel not flying the ship to get down here right now! Carol Danvers has broken out of her cell! I repeat, Carol Danvers has broken out her cell."

Evidently, some principles were universal, because sirens began to go off and the entire room was flashing orange. Before Carol knew it, dozens of soldiers were charging their way into the room, ready to take her out. She levitated above the ground, but then noticed that Minn-Erva was levitating above the ground, too, indicating that she was also superpowered.

That would definitely make this more of a challenge, but Carol wasn't going to back down to the Kree. In spite of their numbers, her fists continued to glow – she was ready to finish them right here, right now.


	21. The Battle in the Stars

**July was a very busy month for me, but here I am now! Enjoy!**

* * *

With a speed boost from his power ring, Hal was able to leave Earth's atmosphere in minutes, something that would normally take hours. He gritted his teeth, not being in the mood for anything to slow him down. He had created a giant green bubble with his ring, and in it were the rest of the Vanguardians. Even Superman, for all his powers, still needed oxygen and an atmosphere to breath, so he had to be kept in the bubble as well. Stark had actually been working on an suit designed for space flight, but he didn't have time to finish it up. He simply went and got a suit that he just completed, which was the same as his old suit with the addition of some grey areas.

And in front of them was the Kree vessel. It was a dark gray spaceship with blue Tron-line lines spread across the whole thing. Hal narrowed his eyes, while Cap just looked at the ship in awe He just couldn't believe that he was actually up in space; even with everything else that had changed since he was thawed out of the ice, he had taken comfort in the fact that he was at least still grounded on Earth; now, not even that was true.

He looked down at the Earth. They were just above North America; it all looked so big, and he let out a 'hmm' before looking away, daunted by all of this.

"You okay, Steve?" Barry asked, noting Cap's discomfort.

"This is all so weird, Barry," Cap replied, rubbing his neck. "We are actually up in outer space. You wouldn't believe how awestruck I was when I heard about the moon landing in '69…and now…now _I'm_ up in space. Isn't it a lot to take in?"

"It is. I'll give you that," Superman piped in, which caused Iron Man to jump a little.

"You, Superman? You're a spaceman," Iron Man pointed out, extending out his arms. "You came here from space! How on Earth can it be uneasy for you?"

"Just became I'm from another planet doesn't mean it's not weird for me to travel into space. I was still raised in Kansas, you know."

Iron Man just shrugged. "Right. Okay."

Cap looked down at the planet one more time, before looking at Hal. He wondered what it must be like, to travel across the stars. For Hal, going from the Milky Way to the Andromeda Galaxy was just like what going from the United States to the United Kingdom would be like for a normal person. But it was one thing to leave the country, and another to leave the planet. They were not exactly leaving the galaxy – they were just going by the moon – but it was still an odd sensation. He looked at his shield, and he placed his free hand on it. Whatever challenges the Kree had in store for him, he would be ready to face them. Nothing would make him back down.

But he was perfectly willing to scratch his head. "Why isn't Hal saying anything?"

"The ring only gives him the ability to travel in space," Barry answered. "It can't change the whole thing about space being completely silent."

"…Oh. Right. I totally know that's how space works. I swear," Cap replied, feeling a bit like an idiot.

"Oh, don't worry, you're fine."

"No he's not, Barry," Iron Man piped in, to which Cap just rolled his eyes. "Steve, astronomy has taken massive leaps since your time in the ice. Pick up the pace, Captain."

Superman shook his head. "Save the smartass comments for later, Iron Man. We got work to do."

Then, suddenly, the Kree ship began to blast at Hal, and he was forced to divert his path just to get away from the blasts. It was here that Cap noted the silence in space, as the blasts weren't making any sounds at all. But he could perfectly hear himself and the other Vanguardians bouncing across the green bubble as Hal struggled to dodge the Kree ship.

Cap felt defenseless, and it would have been dumb of him to think otherwise. If the Kree blasted at Hal, then the rest of the Vanguardians would be forced into the harsh vacuum of space. If Superman couldn't survive in space, what chance did Cap have?

*This is the Kree Empire, contacting the 'Vanguard of Justice'*, Minn-Erva shouted into the Vanguardians' ear comms. They were all taken aback by this – how did the Kree hack into their ear comms?

*If you are here for Carol Danvers of Boston, she is but our lab rat. She must be taken to our home planet so that we can complete our experiments on her. And you must -*

* _Are you crazy?!_ * Another voice shouted, this one a bit higher-pitched. * _We have to silence them! Do you not see the Green Lantern?!*_

*…Right* the original voice replied. *Everyone, kill the Green Lantern and take its ring before it can go back to Oa*

But by this point, Hal had made it all the way to the ship. He had used that ear comm conversation and the brief moment of bickering to get all the way to the bottom of the ship. He detached himself from the green bubble, leaving the other four Vanguardians sitting around in space while he began to slowly undo the bottom of the ship. After a few moments, he managed to do just that, and Kree soldiers and objects began to get sucked out of the ship and into space. The removed part was just floating there in space, like the bubble, but then Hal reconnected himself to the green bubble and flew himself and the other four Vanguardians in. He made sure to very quickly reattach the removed part of the ship, and after that, they were in the clear.

The green bubble disintegrated, and everyone, who were all ten inches above the ground, landed hard onto the ground. Cap groaned as he got up, and he still couldn't believe this. He was above the Earth, on a spaceship. But he shook his head. He had to focus on helping to take out the Kree.

He wanted to scratch his head, though, when only two Kree soldiers were in sight. He expected that the whole ship would be charging towards them, but it felt like there was barely anyone here.

"Hardly an army they got here," Cap said as Hal dealt with the two Kree soldiers by creating a giant hammer and slamming them both into a wall with it.

"I bet you $10 that Carol broke out of whatever cell they were trying to keep her in," Hal replied, floating down until he was but five inches above the ground. "We just gotta worry about finding out where she is. I've only seen Kree ships from the outside, so I have no idea where they're keeping her."

"I'm trying to scan their ships right now," Iron Man piped up as the group began to travel across the ship. "It's alien tech, so it's taking me a minute…"

But then all of them began to hear massive thuds coming from the left of the ship. First, there was just one, and then there were three, and then there were eight. Everyone just looked at each other.

"Now, Hal," Iron Man said, raising his finger up. I'm willing to bet _you_ $500 that Carol somehow has something to do with that."

"$500? Tony, we're not all billionaires!" Hal replied, rolling his eyes. "But yeah, Carol's got to be involved in that somehow. At least we know to go left."

When everyone found what was essentially a fork in the road, they did indeed turn left…and saw several Kree soldiers, all knocked out. And then two more were blasted towards the wall. The blast was a yellow color, confirming that yes, this was Captain Marvel.

She levitated 15 feet above the ground, and she looked down at her teammates with a smirk on her face. "Boys, you're not needed, I'm afraid. I got this."

Hal shook his head. "I've told you about how the relations between the Kree and the Corps work. We must be here, to make sure the Kree answer for their crimes on Earth."

"Right, right," Carol replied, before an electric blast was fired towards her, causing her to yell out as she was being electrocuted.

Barry narrowed his eyes. "Okay, no more chit-chat. Let's just take care of these whackjobs."

To that end, when four Kree soldiers showed up with their guns ready, Barry created wind funnels with his hands and sent them flying away with the sheer push generated from the wind funnels. Iron Man then seized the opportunity and blasted at the same four soldiers with his blasters as they got up, and they were all knocked out in a matter of moments.

Cap lunged his shield towards the wall, and it bounced its way in the direction of another soldier, who fainted onto the ground after the shield clashed with his helmet. Another soldier blasted at him, and just barely managed to graze his shoulder. Cap grimaced and held his shoulder, as that hurt more than a bullet that grazed his shoulder back in the 40s did. He grunted, and the soldier seized the opportunity to shoot at the Captain again, only for Superman to zoom into to the way. The blast did not effect him at all, and the Kree soldier notably jumped at this. He tried to run, but Superman just flew towards him and decked him in the face, knocking him out.

However, Superman was then caught by surprise when a sudden force pushed him all the way to the wall. He turned his head, and saw Doctor Minerva, who had a look of curiosity on his face.

"You…" She said, her tone sounding as curious as her face. "I don't know why, but there's something off about you."

Superman zoomed towards her and decked her in the face twice before unleashing his heat vision upon her, sending her down to the ground. He dashed towards her again, but she was able to grab his throat and slam him towards the wall.

"What are you, exactly?"

Superman managed to break free of his grip, and decked Minn-Erva right in the face. "I'm a Kansan. But also a Kryptonian."

Minn-Erva's eyes widened. "A-a Kryptonian? Your species lives?! Oh, the Kree Empire will be dazzled when I bring you to Hala as well."

"You won't be taking either of us to Hala!" Carol shouted as she lunged towards Minn-Erva, tackling her down to the ground.

Minn-Erva spat in Carol's face, and tried to punch her. But Carol had her pinned to the ground, and she simply deflected Minn-Erva's punch.

"You cannot stand against the Kree Empire!"

"You can't just butt your way into our world, Minn-Erva!"

Minn-Erva smirked, and she kicked Carol in the chest, sending her away.

"If you truly believe that, Danvers, you are a naive fool. The Kree Empire is more powerful than you can imagine!"

She tried to swing another punch towards Carol, but the blonde blocked her punch again and head-butted her.

"Well, aren't you one to talk about underestimating a species, Minn-Erva! We'll do just fine against you."

"You and the Kryptonian will be taken to Hala, Carol Danvers! Whether either of you like it or not! You cannot stand against us!"

She then began to try and deck Carol in the face again. One thing that was becoming increasingly noticeable was that she wasn't letting out any blasts. It became apparent that she didn't have the ability to do such a thing, and that's where Carol's advantage lied.

She let out an energy blast towards Minn-Eva, who was not able to dodge it. She blasted at Minn-Erva again, but this time she was able to dodge and she kicked Carol right in the chest. She sent her towards the wall and then Minn-Erva began punching Carol in the face repeatedly. She did still have hand-to-hand combat, but it didn't do much good for her when Carol blasted her right in the face. Then Superman joined the fray, and began heat-visioning Minn-Erva right in the chest. He seemed to be holding back the true power of his heat vision so that it was just like getting punched really hard, and that's what Carol was also doing. She began blasting at her, also in the chest. Then Hal and Iron Man joined in the fray, and they were all blasting at Minn-Erva now. The Kree lady screamed in agony, as it was evidently too much for her to bear.

They all stopped at the same time, and Minn-Erva breathed heavily, looking exhausted and fatigued. Flash zoomed by and decked her in the face, and then Cap bashed her in the face with his shield, knocking her out.

"Surrender now, Kree soldiers!" Hal shouted, raising his arm up and showing that his ring was glowing. "You will all be standing trial before Oa anyway, so do not delay the inevitable."

The remaining Kree soldiers looked at each other before deciding to oblige, to which Hal smiled.

* * *

Just outside Coast City was another Kree vessel, and the Vanguard was back in Coast City itself – near the ruins of the bar, to be exact - with Minn-Erva and the Kree soldiers in chains. Among the Vanguardians was an alien Green Lantern, a 'Guardian of the Universe', and a Kree officer wearing what was essentially a male version of Minn-Erva's outfit. The GL was named Kilowog, and he was an eight foot tall pink creature with a huge face, the closest of which it could be compared to was a pig's face, and even then there were some big differences; Kilowog also had only four fingers on each hand, like a classic cartoon character. The 'Guardian' was named Ganthet, and was a three foot tall creature with blue skin, white hair with a ponytail, and a red/white gown with the Green Lantern symbol on his chest. Finally, the Kree officer was named Mar-Vell, and he was a blonde man around the same height as Cap and Hal. He had his arms crossed, and then he sighed.

"Vanguardians, on behalf of the Kree Empire, I apologize for the deaths caused by Minn-Erva and her forces. And Ganthet, again on behalf of the Kree Empire, I apologize for never discovering that Minn-Erva had came here into GL space and violated our agreement. I will help make sure she and her forces stand trial for her actions."

Ganthet nodded. "The other Guardians are not happy with the Kree, but I personally hold nothing against you or the Empire about this, Mar-Vell. Sometimes, events just slip under our noses. Happens to the best of us."

Mar-Vell smiled. "That's good to hear," and then he turned his attention towards Carol, and seemed to study her for a moment. "…You know what? That suit looks good on you. You can keep it. But that will have to be kept a secret from the Kree Empire."

Carol chuckled. "Yeah, don't worry about me telling them anything."

"I like this planet, honestly. I wish I could stay. But duty calls back at Hala."

Now Kilowog was the one laughing. "This planet is just _adorable_ , Mar-Vell," he said, before looking down at Hal and slapping him hard on the back. "Ya hear that, poozer? Your planet is just something real special."

Hal rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah."

"Oh, and tell Alan Scott I say hi."

Hal jumped, looking absolutely flabbergasted. "Wait, what?! Since when do you know Alan?"

Before Kilowog could answer, Ganthet piped in. "Come, Kilowog. We must begin the preparations for trial. Hal, I want you in Oa soon as well."

Kilowog snorted. "Be on time for once, would ya, Poozer?"

"Come now, Kilowog," Ganthet piped in in response. "Tease Hal later."

Then Kilowog encased Mar-Vell and the Kree prisoners into a green bubble and flew away towards the ship outside the city, while Ganthet flew under his own power.

Hal looked up, and he sighed and rubbed his neck. "Man, I wonder what I'm gonna do now that my identity's been exposed."

"Oh, don't worry about that," a feminine voice said. A blonde woman tapped Hal's shoulder, and while the Green Lantern didn't recognize her, Captain America did. It was Sharon Carter.

"Agent Carter…" Cap muttered, stunned and surprised to see Sharon here.

"Director Fury took all the survivors in the bar and placed them under S.H.I.E.L.D custody. They'll have their memories wiped of your identity, Mr. Jordan."

Hal let out a sigh of disgust. "You people are just a bunch of rats, you know that? A bunch of dirty, no-good, morally decadent little cun –"

Cap tapped Hal's shoulder, and let out a glare that told Hal he needed to just shut up.

He then walked towards Sharon, and had a confused look on his face.

"Off the record, I wish things could be different," Sharon lamented, looking down at the ground for a few moments. "But it is what it is,"

Then she gave Cap a small piece of paper.

"I never gave you my number, Cap. I had other things on my mind last time we saw each other. If you don't want to call or text after…well, this…I get it. But either way, take care."

Sharon walked away, and Cap just looked at the sheet of paper for a moment. Then he asked Superman to give him a lift him, and the Man of Steel obliged and the two flew off. Iron Man then flew off as well, leaving behind just Barry, Hal, and Carol.

"Hey guys, I just wanted to give my condolences to the lives lost here. It's a hard truth that we can't save everyone sometimes..."

Carol and Hal looked at each other, and then nodded towards Barry, who zoomed off after saying thanks.

The two Coast City inhabitants took to the skies, and Carol couldn't help but remember that night at the bar again.

"Ah," Carol replied, and there were a few moments of silence before the night at the bar came back into her memory. "Hal…I want to thank you again, for the night we truly became friends. I know you mainly believed me because of your little trip to Oa, but it was still nice to see someone having my back."

Hal smiled. "Carol, I would've had your back anyway. I don't know if I would've believed you, but I know I still would have helped stand up for you. Those guys were real assholes."

"Aw, thanks Hal. Guess someone's gotta stick up for the nutjobs."

"Indeed. And speaking of which, we should really rebuild that bar now that I think of it."

"Yeah, I already had that in mind. I just wanted to get this out of system. Hal, I'm just glad to have you in my life."

Hal smiled again. "And that's not a one way street, trust me."

The two then flew back towards the bar to help rebuild the bar, glad to being it together.

* * *

As Barry ran from Coast City all the way to Central City, he couldn't help but get the feeling that something was watching him and following him. But he wondered, for not even Superman could keep up with him when he was going at his top speed.

He first stopped in the deserts of Utah, and looked around, seeing, nothing. Then, as he found himself in the fields and grasses of Nebraska, he felt that presence again, and stopped by Carhenge. It was closed for the day, so there was no one to recognize him. He looked around, but only a few cars could be seeing driving. There was no one. He stopped one final time when he reached his apartment complex, seeing no one.

Unbeknownst to him, there was a figure on a rooftop several blocks away. He appeared to be vibrating, but he wore a suit similar to the Flash's, except yellow with a black center instead of red with a white center. And his eyes glowed red.

The man let out a chuckle. "I look forward to our reunion, Barry," he said, before running off into the distance.


End file.
